Quantitative Life Sciences seminar - 13 May 2015

[Quantitative Life Sciences]

QUANTITATIVE LIFE SCIENCES SEMINAR

WEDNESDAY, 13 MAY 2015, 10:00 a.m.
L. STASI SEMINAR ROOM - ICTP Leonardo Bldg., First floor


Alberto PULIAFITO
Laboratory of Cell Migration
Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (IRCC, Candiolo, Turin)


Three dimensional growth paradigms: from architecture to invasion

Abstract:

One of the hallmarks of cancer is to lose grip on growth control giving 
rise to a plethora of phenotypes: from disordered growth to invasion of 
adjacent tissues. I will discuss two paradigms of normal growth 
mechanisms gone awry.
Cultured epithelial cells can form cysts, i.e. perfectly ordered 
spheroidal monolayers delimiting a single lumen. The orderly development 
of cysts is a process subject to mechanical constraints and depends on 
apico-basal polarity. I will present experimental data and modeling 
results on cystogenesis and on the mechanisms that lead to a disrupted 
architecture. Our results indicate that dynamics has an important role 
in leading to aberrant phenotypes.
Oftentimes, once normal architecture is disrupted, migration of tumor 
cells to secondary sites becomes more probable. I will describe how 
metastatic cancer cells in three-dimensional environments can 
collectively migrate as spheroids and fuse into larger and larger 
aggregates. I will describe a theoretical model that explains the 
experimental data in terms of 'chemotaxis driven aggregation'. 
Theoretical hypotheses are supported by experimental data pointing at an 
autocrine loop at the basis of such behavior.


-- 
Erica Sarnataro
Group Secretary
Quantitative Life Sciences
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)
Trieste,  Italy
Tel. +39-040-2240623
e-mail: qls at ictp.it