Episode 7: Science News

The travelling tumour

If cancer cells don’t have a particular protein, it might enable them to move through healthy body tissue, which is the first step to spreading and causing disease and death. Scientists from University of Heidelberg published results this week showing that a when SCAI protein was working it inhibited the movement and spread of tumor cells in laboratory tests. But, if the protein wasn’t functioning, cancer cells travelled much more effectively through the model of tissues in the human body.Journal reference:1. Brandt et al. SCAI acts as a suppressor of cancer cell invasion through the transcriptional control of β1-integrin.
Nature Cell Biology, 2009; DOI: 10.1038/ncb1862

Anti-cancerous pot plants
Researchers from Spain have provided evidence that cannabinoids, the active ingredient in marijuana (THC) might kill human brain cancer cells. THC killed human brain cancer cell lines by encouraging the cancer cells to eat themselves up in a process called autophagy. THC was given to mice with human tumors. The mice showed decreased tumor growth and the established tumor cells began killing themselves through autophagy. Journal reference:1. Salazar et al. Cannabinoid action induces autophagy-mediated cell death through stimulation of ER stress in human glioma cells.
Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2009; DOI: 10.1172/JCI37948

Wake up and smell the coffee, but how?
Research from Rockefeller University suggests that we don’t smell by inhaling all at once. The wind blows odors in all different directions, leaving it up to the brain to put them back in their place. The researchers analyzed the brain activity of locusts as they smelled different odors that were created and released for varying durations and intervals. Different neurons picked up the different components of the odors. The brain then encodes the time that these neurons are activated and for how long, and from this pattern understands what it is smelling.