Cell News 04/2018
22
1
Leipzig University Hospital, Department of Gynecology
2
Center for Medical Physics and Technology,
FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg
3
Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology, Leipzig
4
Peter Debye Institute for Soft Matter Physics,
University of Leipzig
5
Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum Heidelberg
* Correspondence should be addressed to:
Prof. Dr. Josef A. Käs
Peter Debye Institute for Soft Matter Physics
University of Leipzig
Linnéstr. 5
04103 Leipzig
Fon: +49 (0) 341/ 97-32470
Fax: +49 (0) 341/ 97-32479
E-Mail:
The success of cancer treatment had been stagnating over
the past decades, but very recently, the combination of new
scientific insights and personalized medicine has resulted in
encouraging signs towards improved patient outcome. The 9th
International Symposium 'Physics of Cancer' has highlighted
the latest developments in biophysical sciences that have con-
tributed to this positive trend. Among these developments are a
better understanding of the physical tumor microenvironment,
of mechanical cell-matrix interaction and mechano-chemical
signal transduction processes, and how they contribute to ab-
errant gene regulation. Two focus topics for this year’s sympo-
sium were physical principles that govern the action of immune
cells, and the connection between cancer, embryogenesis and
cell differentiation.
In addition to the founders of the annual meeting Josef Käs
and Harald Herrmann, this year’s conference was organized by
Ben Fabry from FAU Erlangen, Benjamin Wolf from the Uni-
versity Hospital Leipzig and David Smith from the Fraunhofer
Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology in Leipzig. The event
was sponsored by the DFG and the DGZ.
The continued international interest in our annual conference
was demonstrated by more than 100 participants from 12
countries (USA, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Germany, Swit-
zerland, Indonesia, Algeria, Norway, Great Britain, The Nether-
lands). There were 22 invited and 8 contributed talks selected
from the submitted abstracts. Of all 30 speakers, 10 were
female. Thirty-two abstracts were submitted and displayed at
this year’s meeting. The following section gives an overview
over the diverse contributions by all speakers.
First day:
The symposium started with a contribution by
Ingo Thievessen
(University of Erlangen-Nuremberg) on the cancer-associated
adhesion-protein ß-parvin. In his talk, Dr. Thivessen explained
how ß-parvin functions as a mechanoresponsive signaling hub,
and how it regulates cell size, shape, and contractility, all of
which are crucial for cancer cell metastasis. Although the func-
tion of ß-parvin is best characterized and understood in cardiac
cells especially with respect to their response to mechanical
stress, the same molecular pathways (namely
α
/
β
-PIX mediated
activation of Rac1, and activation of STAT3 and subsequently
VEGF) are also highly relevant during the malignant transfor-
mation of neoplastic cells.
Next,
Chase Broedersz
(Ludwig Maximilians University Mu-
nich, Germany) explained how cell-induced stresses in the
extracellular matrix lead to altered mechanical properties
including fiber alignment and stiffening, which in turn can lead
to aberrant cell behavior. Dr. Broedersz used optical tweezers
to directly measure the local nonlinear elastic properties in
a collagen matrix surrounding cancer cells, and discovered
remarkably far-reaching (more than 1 cell length) and very pro-
nounced (100-fold and more) stiffening of the collagen matrix.
While cells grown on matrices such as collagen or fibronec-
tin that engage integrin adhesion receptors usually respond
sensitively to matrix stiffness, the next talk by
Paul Janmey
(University of Pennsylvania, USA) showed that this mechanore-
sponsiveness is nearly absent in cells grown on hyaluronic acid
(HA): on soft HA gels, cells appear indistinguishable from cells
grown on stiff collagen of fibronectin substrates. A possible ex-
planation is that several cytoskeletal regulators, including talin,
ezrin, alpha-actinin, and vinculin, that are activated by tension
arising when cells are grown on stiff substrates, are also acti-
vated by polyphosphoinositide lipids, in particular PIP2, in the
absence of force, when the cells a grown on soft HA matrices.
The subsequent talk by
Katarzyna Pogoda
(Institute of Nuclear
Physics Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow) who collaborated
with Paul Janmey showed that this stiffness-mimicking func-
tion of HA, which is the main glycosaminoclycan in the brain,
may explain the invasive behavior of glioblastoma cells.
Leading soft matter scientists gather in Leipzig
for the 9th Physics of Cancer Symposium
The conference was held September 24th – 26th at the Paulinum, University of Leipzig
Benjamin Wolf
1
, Ben Fabry
2
, David Smith
3,4
, Claudia Brück
4
, Harald Hermann
5
, Josef Käs
4
*
MEETING REPORT
