A lab study suggests cancer cells struggle to join together to form tumors in microgravity. A next experiment will soon be conducted on board the ISS.
We evolved on Earth with Earth's gravity conditions. This is why space is so dangerous for humans. Once up there, we are vulnerable due to cosmic radiation. Low-gravity environments also have detrimental effects on our physiology. Examples include muscle and bone degeneration or decreased organ function. But moving through space could also have some advantages. To fight against cancer , in particular.
In any case, this is what the work of Joshua Choi, from the University of Technology in Sydney (Australia), suggests, who studies the effects of microgravity on cells of the human body.
It all started with a conversation with the late Stephen Hawking a few years ago. He then made the following remark:"nothing in the Universe can defy gravity ". A few months later, a friend of Joshua Choi was diagnosed with cancer. He then remembered what Hawking had told him and wondered what effects zero gravity might have on cancer cells.
In a very simplified way, cancer is a dysfunction that affects certain cells in our body. These multiply in an anarchic way and proliferate , creating a solid tumor. These cells come together by simple mechanical forces because, just like us, they have evolved to function in an environment subject to gravity. Based on this principle, it is useful to ask whether the absence of gravity could prevent cancer cells from grouping together, before spreading.
To find out, the researcher and his students began by subjecting some of these cells to microgravity conditions in the laboratory. They created a kind of small box with a small centrifuge inside . The cells were then contained in a series of pods inside it.
For this work, the researchers analyzed the effects of microgravity on four types of cancers tested – ovary, breast, nose and lung. It turned out that80 to 90% of these cells had been deactivated. In other words, they couldn't hold on, unable to detect each other and come together.
These first encouraging results then laid the foundations for another experiment to come. This will take place early next year on board the ISS . Researchers will submit the effects of zero gravity on certain cancer cells for seven days . After which they will be frozen before returning to Earth for analysis.
These experiments, if they prove conclusive, could then lead to the development of new treatments roughly mimicking the same effects that microgravity has on cancer cells. These approaches, if they work, could then complement treatments currently available, neutralizing the spread of the disease.
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