Researchers Gain First-Hand Access to the Intricacies of a Single Cancer Cell
New Imaging Techniques Reveal Lipid Landscape in Single Tumor Cells, Aiding Cancer Treatment Understanding
A groundbreaking study, published this week in the journal Analytical Chemistry, has shed light on the intricate workings of cancer cells using new imaging techniques. The research was conducted by a collaborative team from the University of Surrey, University College London, GSK, Yokogawa, and Sciex.
The focus of the research was on the fatty droplets, or lipids, found inside cancer cells. These lipids act as a source of energy for tumor cells and allow them to signal to other cells and recruit them. Understanding the role of these lipids could potentially have implications in the understanding and treatment of various diseases beyond cancer.
To extract intact, individual pancreatic cancer cells, the team used the Single Cellome System SS2000 from Yokogawa. A new mass spectrometry method was developed in collaboration with Sciex to break open the lipids and reveal their composition. The extracted cells were stained with a fluorescent dye that highlighted the lipids inside.
The new imaging technique for studying lipids inside single tumor cells provides high-resolution spatial and chemical maps of lipid distributions at near single-cell level. This detailed lipid profiling helps uncover how cancer cells alter lipid metabolism to support growth and survive treatments, thereby informing more precise therapeutic strategies.
One of the key techniques used in this study is OPTIR hyperspectral imaging, which can achieve spatial resolution down to 500 nm, allowing visualization of lipid-rich areas and their distribution within individual tumor cells. This spatial heterogeneity assessment helps distinguish lipid droplets and relate lipid accumulation to protein content, indicating metabolic changes induced by treatments or tumor progression.
Advanced mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) methods, such as MALDI-2 on Bruker timsTOF fleX, enable lipid mapping in tissue samples at near single-cell resolution (~10 microns). This lipidomics spatial profiling identifies distinct lipid species and their precise localization, critical for understanding tumor cell metabolism and its response to drugs.
The study of lipid profiles in cancer cells could lead to a better understanding of how cancer cells respond to different treatments. If a particular lipid pathway is implicated in radiation or drug resistance, it may be possible to target that pathway with future therapies.
The new technology could be useful in the study of our internal body clocks as well. In a broader context, imaging techniques combined with lipid nanoparticle delivery systems (e.g., for mRNA in CAR-T cell generation) highlight the importance of lipid-related processes in cancer therapy efficacy, although that is more on the therapeutic delivery rather than direct lipid imaging within tumor cells.
Together, these imaging advances enable researchers and clinicians to correlate lipid metabolic changes with treatment response at the single-cell level, improving understanding of tumor heterogeneity, therapy resistance mechanisms, and facilitating personalized cancer treatment. The team is already collaborating with other researchers studying lipids inside single cells across various fields, including immunity, infectious diseases, and the study of internal body clocks.
Dr. Bailey, a member of the research team, stated that the team is keen to push the boundaries of technology development to obtain more information from sub-cellular features. The new technology could have applications beyond cancer, particularly in the study of healthy cells.
This research could pave the way for crucial discoveries about cancer, offering a promising step forward in the fight against the disease.
[1] Source: Nature Reviews Cancer [2] Source: Cancer Research [3] Source: Cancer Cell [4] Source: Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology [5] Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery
- The new imaging technique for studying lipids inside single tumor cells was developed by a collaboration that includes GSK, and their research was published in the journal Analytical Chemistry.
- This groundbreaking study, focusing on the lipids found within cancer cells, could potentially have implications in the understanding and treatment of various medical-conditions beyond cancer.
- The high-resolution spatial and chemical maps of lipid distributions, made possible by the new imaging technique, could lead to a better understanding of the role of lipids in health-and-wellness and technology, such as in the study of our internal body clicks.
- The new imaging technology, which was used to extract and study pancreatic cancer cells, could be useful in the future development of therapeutic strategies for treating cancer and other health conditions.
