Detecting the change early on

Detecting the change early on

Context:

A study by the researchers from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, published in the Journal of Cell Science demonstrates how normal cells change into cancerous ones.

What is the method used in the study?

• For the study, breast epithelial cells grown in 3D cultures have been used.
• An alkylating agent (a drug used in chemotherapy) was used to induce the transformation of breast epithelial cells into cancerous cells by activating the DNA-PK gene.
• To confirm that activation of DNA-PK was causing the phenomena of transformation, a small molecule was used to inhibit the activity of DNA-PK.

What does the study reveal?

• The study shows how the normal cells transform into cancerous cells.
• The activated DNA-PK was found to disrupt the structure and function of the Golgi.
• Due to the disruption of the Golgi morphology, the movement of proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum to the cell membrane via Golgi was found to be restricted.
• This further resulted in the disruption of the polarity which caused the epithelial cells transforming into cancerous cells.

Note: Polarity is the ability to distinguish the top and bottom sides of the epithelial cells