For your viewing pleasure, we have two videos, courtesy of Winship Cancer Institute’s Adam Marcus. He and his colleagues are investigating whether Withania somnifera, a root used in Indian traditional medicine, could be a source for drugs that inhibit breast cancer invasion and metastasis. Metastasis occurs when cells from a primary tumor migrate to a new location and invade the tissues at the new location.
The first video, the blob that grows, shows MCF10a mammary Ray Ban outlet epithelial cells undergoing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in response to TGF-beta. This is a laboratory model for understanding breast cancer invasion and metastasis.
The second shows what happens when the same cells are treated with an extract from Withania somnifera. The blob doesn’t expand in such a threatening way anymore! The results were recently published in PLOS One.
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