- IBS develops world's first MRI-based sensor to measure pressure inside tumors

- Rapid pressure spikes found to increase cancer cell mobility and invasiveness, opening new path to predicting metastasis risk

A diagram illustrating how the rate of pressure buildup affects the metastatic potential of cancer cells. [Provided by IBS]
A diagram illustrating how the rate of pressure buildup affects the metastatic potential of cancer cells. [Provided by IBS]

Korean researchers have found that when pressure builds rapidly inside cancer cells, those cells become significantly more prone to spreading to other organs.

The Institute for Basic Science announced Monday that a joint research team led by Cheon Jin-woo, director of the IBS Nanomedicine Research Center and an Underwood Professor at Yonsei University, and Jeon Young-wook, a professor at the University of California San Francisco, has developed the world's first MRI-based sensor capable of measuring pressure inside tumors. The sensor is called M3, or "M-Cube."

Metastasis — the spread of cancer to other organs — is one of the primary reasons cancer is so difficult to treat. While it was already known that pressure accumulating inside a growing tumor can influence metastasis, directly measuring how that pressure changes within a living tumor and what effect it has on cancer cells had remained beyond reach.

To address this challenge, the research team developed a miniaturized sensor that can measure internal tumor pressure using MRI.

The M3 sensor consists of microscopic magnetic nanoparticles embedded within alginate hydrogel, a biocompatible material derived from seaweed.

When external pressure is applied, the hydrogel contracts, altering the environment of water molecules surrounding the magnetic nanoparticles and causing a detectable change in the MRI signal.

Using this principle, the research team successfully measured pressure in the biologically significant range of 1 to 15 kilopascals within cancerous tissue.

The team then applied the sensor to organoids — three-dimensional cell cultures that mimic tumor characteristics — and to animal models, analyzing how cancer cells respond to changes in pressure.

As a result, the researchers confirmed that a key factor determining a cancer cell's tendency to metastasize is not simply the magnitude of pressure, but how quickly that pressure rises.

When pressure on cancer cells increased gradually, no significant changes were observed. When pressure rose sharply, however, oxidative stress surged within the cancer cells.

Cheon Jin-woo, director of the IBS Nanomedicine Research Center. [Provided by IBS]
Cheon Jin-woo, director of the IBS Nanomedicine Research Center. [Provided by IBS]

The research is considered significant because it enabled imaging-based measurement of physical pressure inside tumors — something that had previously been difficult to observe — and established a link between the rate of pressure change and a cancer cell's metastatic tendency.

The technology could potentially be used to identify high-risk areas within a tumor by mapping internal pressure distribution, or to develop new anticancer treatment strategies.

However, further validation will be needed before the sensor can be used as a diagnostic tool to predict metastasis risk in actual cancer patients. Improvements to the sensor's size and resolution, as well as testing for stable performance across diverse tissue environments, will be required.

The research team plans to improve the sensor's accuracy so that pressure can be measured quantitatively even under complex physical stimuli, and to advance the technology toward analyzing minute pressure differences at the cellular and tissue level.

"This research tracked the invisible forces within living tumors using MRI and revealed that changes in pressure stress acting on cancer cells are closely linked to their metastatic tendency," Cheon said. "We expect it will also be used to shed light on the role of physical forces in a range of biological phenomena beyond cancer metastasis, including tissue regeneration, inflammation and fibrosis."

The findings were published in the Sept. 28 issue of the international journal Nature Nanotechnology.


nbgkoo@heraldcorp.com