Cell News 3
&
4/2016
16
MEETING REPORT
What can we gain from viewing cancer pathogenicity through
the eyes of basic physical mechanisms and concepts?
On one hand, real-world biological systems - from cells to
tissues to living organisms - encompass an enormous comple-
xity that simply cannot be fully captured in an exact manner.
On the other hand, there is no shortage of illustrations where
the behaviors of even the most complexly interwoven biolo-
gical systems can be captured by a simple physical approach.
Viewing blood cells purely in terms of their inherent viscoelas-
tic character illuminates their function within organisms at
different stages of their development [Ekpenyong et al., PLoS
One, 2012]. Similarly, examining the retinas of the freshwater
Elephantnose fish in terms of light propagation through pho-
tonic crystals has clarified fundamental questions evolutionary
biology [Kreysing et al., Science, 2012].
These simple insights can give us information and inspiration
about the underlying nuts and bolts of how these complex
systems function, react and interact with their surrounding
environment. The same holds true for picking out the key root
causes when these complex systems go wrong, i.e., pathogeni-
city.
The chronic lung disorder asthma can be understood through
considering epithelial cells analogously to a jamming transiti-
on of granular materials [Park et al., Nature Materials, 2015].
Conversely, insights into the mechanism of kidney disease can
be gained by an analysis of how mutation-driven changes to
binding kinetics of a single protein affect force generation by
cells [Ehrlicher et al., PNAS, 2015]. Cancer is perhaps the most
intriguing form of pathogenicity for this viewpoint since the
broadly defined disease, arising from a vast array of root cau-
ses, is more often than not accompanied by a clearly defined
set of physical commonalities:
• individual malignant cells become softer
• collections of malignant cells - tumors - become stiffer
• cells gain the capacity to generate higher forces on their
surroundings
• malignant cells adhere less steadily to their neighbors
• the surrounding membrane of cells become softer
These examples and others, when linked together with a deep
knowledge of biological mechanisms, have been significant
in both uncovering and learning about some of the essential
signatures and causes of cancer.
However, the story is still only halfway complete; beneath
the study of cancer or any other deadly disease is the innate
suggestion to use the knowledge gained in order to develop
strategies for prevention, advanced detection and treatment.
The knowledge must be applied, or it risks being a wasted
effort. This is the impetus, the obligation and the challenge
lighting the path ahead.
This was the motivation underlying of the 7th Annual "Phy-
sics of Cancer" Symposium. By bringing together exceptional
researchers in the areas of quantitative cell biology, physical
mechanisms of pathology, cancer biology, molecular design,
diagnostic systems and beyond, we created a forum for the
exchange of new ideas and formulation of new solutions.
A word of welcome
7TH ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM “PHYSICS OF CANCER”
