2014

Hej alla PHI-intressenter.
Tänkte att det kanske var dax att dela lite info om varför PHI enligt mig är ett ovanligt intressant Bolag.

Vi börjar med en aktuell blänkare från Lunds Universitet, medicinska fakulteten, forskningsområde cancerbehandling via stamceller.
Fotnot. LU är användare av PHI,s produkter.

2014-10-28
Cancer Stem Cells
Research Using Cancer Cell Lines

Cancer is the 2nd leading cause of death in the industrialized world. One out of three people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.
Despite advances in cancer treatment, 25 – 40 % of these will not survive five years depending on cancer type and where the patient lives.

Today we know that a cancer is a clump of heterogeneous cells meaning that the cancer cells of a tumour are different.
There seems to be different degrees of aggressiveness in the different cancer cells.
It has been hypothesized that the most aggressive cancer cells are resistant towards the chemotherapeutic drugs used today and also towards radiation.

These very aggressive cells have been termed cancer stem cells (CSCs) because they have some properties that resemble them to normal stem cells, such as self-renewal and differentiation. CSCs were first found in leukaemia and have subsequently been found in solid tumours of the breast, pancreas, ovary, prostate, ovaries and brain.
A new generation of thinking in cancer treatment focuses on attacking the roots of cancer, the CSCs.

Notera i ovanstående:
"It has been hypothesized that the most aggressive cancer cells are resistant towards the chemotherapeutic drugs used today and also towards radiation."

Forts.
Current Cancer Stem Cell projects

Firstly, we are investigating the effect of new potential chemotherapeutic drugs on the CSC population of breast cancer cell lines (but also of pancreas, ovarian and prostate cancer cell lines).

Secondly, in the process of investigating the selectivity and potency of these compounds against CSCs we are also trying to understand the biology of CSCs by trying to deduce the mechanism of action of the compounds.
We are using different kinds of methods to study cell proliferation and cell cycle kinetics, differentiation and cell death of CSCs isolated using flow cytometry and magnetic bead separation.
Flow cytometry is a method we use a lot in applications of cell identity and function.
Western blot is used to elucidate molecular pathways involved in the responses.
We are using a new microscopic technique called phase holographic imaging to characterize CSCs non-invasively.

Min kommentar:
Sista stycket, Flow cytometry + new microscopic technique är alltså PHI,s teknik och produkter.

Forts.
As experimental model systems we use cells growing in culture.
We are mainly using cancer cell lines of various origin such as breast, prostate, pancreas, ovarian and colon cancer.
In our work we are striving to reduce the use of animal-derived products and also to find ways to investigate off-target effects on normal cells.
Thus, when we find new compounds with potential CSC inhibiting activity, we investigate toxicity on nerve cells, heart cells and liver cells.

While medical procedures including surgery and radiation treatment are indispensable tools for cancer treatment, chemotherapy is often the only option for metastasized disease and the better alternative in terms of availability, cost and patient suffering.

According to some views, much focus the past 50 years has been devoted to agents that de-bulk tumors but do not remove the source of the problem, not unlike pruning trees rather than eliminating their roots – the tree will grow back bigger and stronger than before.
Even early chemotherapeutics, as crude as nitrogen mustards, efficiently decrease tumor size.

A common problem with such treatments is rapid and aggressive return of the disease, often in a form unresponsive to further treatment.
A new generation of thinking in cancer treatment focuses on attacking the roots of cancer, the cancer stem cells (CSCs).
CSCs are characterized by the ability of self-renewal, as well as the ability to spawn differentiated progeny (non-CSCs).
Tumor growth and recurrence is at least in part driven by CSCs and CSCs are typically unresponsive to chemotherapy.
A consequence of this unresponsiveness, in part driven by resistance and drug uptake problems, is that chemotherapy imposes a strong selection for CSC survival.
CSCs have been found across several cancer types including breast, pancreas, ovary, prostate cancer, and more recently leukemia. Small molecules selectively targeting CSCs constitute a hereto-unexploited opportunity for prevention of cancer recurrence and metastasis, and imply opportunities in widening the range of useful chemotherapeutic agents.

Min kommentar: Forskningen har kommit ganska långt kan vi se, förståelsen för just cancerns framfart ökar.
Med den ökande kunskapen kommer behoven av mer tekniskt utvecklad utrustning öka.
När kunskaperna och förståelsen för en specifik sjukdomsart tilltar ställer forskarvärlden större krav på den understödjande funktionen, utrustning och teknik.

I artikeln www.biology.lu.se/research/research-groups/animal-physiology/research-projects/cancer-stem-cells som är ganska "färsk" kan vi se just det behovet.
Man behöver kunna följa cancercellers utveckling över tid och till det använder man sig av PHI,s teknik.

En tidigare artikel tar upp forskarvärldens insikter man fått med denna nya teknik.
Länk:www.nadya-anscombe.com/downloadlibrary/EO%20DHM%20feature.pdf

"DHM, DigitalHolographicMicroscopy, can not only be used to view cells, but can also count them, measure them and assess their viability."

I artikeln berättar forskare från Lunds universitet hur de med hjälp av PHI,s produkter fått fram nya rön inom cancerforskningen.

Läs bägge artiklarna i lugn och ro och öka din egen kunskap i hur forskarmiljön ser ut.