Cancer: New Cell Structure Discovery May Herald Further Treatments

A new cell structure discovery could advance the understanding in cancer development. For the first time ever, scientists have identified a structure called "the mesh" that may help hold together cells.

The researchers actually made the new discovery accidentally. They were looking at gaps between microtubules which are part of the cells' internal skeleton. In dividing cells, these gaps are incredibly small at just 25 nanometers wide. One researcher was examining mitotic spindles in dividing cells using a technique called tomography. That's when he spotted the mesh.

"We had been looking in 2D and this gave the impressing that 'bridges' inked microtubules together," said Stephen Royle, one of the researchers, in a news release. "This had been known since the 1970s. All of a sudden, tilting the fiber in 3D showed us that the bridges were not single struts at all but a web-like structure linking all the microtubules together."

This discovery actually impacts research into cancerous cells. A cell needs to share chromosomes accurately when it divides; otherwise, the two new cells can end up with the wrong number of chromosomes, which can cause tumors in different body organs. The mitotic spindle is responsible for sharing the chromosomes and the researchers believe that the mesh is responsible for giving structural support. This means that the mesh plays a huge role when it comes to cancerous cells.

"Problems in cell division are common in cancer-cells frequently end up with the wrong number of chromosomes," said Emma Smith, senior science communications officer at Cancer Research UK, in a news release. "This early research provides the first glimpse of a structure that helps share out a cell's chromosomes correctly when it divides, and it might be a crucial insight into why this process becomes faulty in cancer and whether drugs could be developed to stop it from happening."

The findings are published in the journal eLife.

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