Lets Get Physical: On Observing Force Perturbations of Proliferating Glioblastoma-related Astrocyte Cells

Abstract

The growth and proliferation of mutant astrocyte cells are widely known characteristics in high grade glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) neurological cancers. The infiltrative tumor processes during glioblastoma development follow predefined routes and patterns dictated by biochemical and physiological environments in the brain. Specifically, at the cellular-level the glioblastoma-related astrocytes cells typically are occluded along neural fissures, neurophysiological interfaces as well as along available blood vessel routes for sources of nutrients to drive overall tumor tissue growth and development. Additionally, each individual astrocyte cell maintains a predisposition to aggregate into a supracellular aggregate with organioid-like properties. Here in this work, we attempt to understand the physical processes involved at the single cell level in forming these pre-tumor states and investigate the environmental forces that may perturb the formation of intermediate cellular assemblies in order to ultimately perturb overall tumor growth and development processes.