Left: A normal
tadpole. Right: A tadpole in which the pigment cells’ normal bioelectrical
signaling was
interrupted, inducing the cells to develop melanoma-like characteristics.
Photo: Courtesy of
the Levin Lab/Tufts University
(October 6, 2015) Melanoma-like
cells in tadpoles may mimic variability in human responses to cancer stimuli
Uncle Joe smokes a pack a day, drinks like a fish and lives
to a ripe old age. His brother, leading a similar lifestyle, succumbs to cancer
at age 55. Why do some individuals develop certain diseases or disorders while
others do not? In newly reported research that could help provide answers,
scientists at Tufts University, in collaboration with the University of
Florida, have developed a novel approach that uses artificial intelligence to
illuminate cellular processes and suggest possible targets to correct
aberrations.
The findings, published Oct. 6 in Science Signaling online
in advance of print, are believed to mark the first time artificial
intelligence has been used to discover a molecular model that explains why some
groups of cells deviate from normal development during embryogenesis, said
senior author Michael Levin, Ph.D., the Vannevar Bush Professor of Biology at
Tufts and director of the Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental
Biology.
The paper builds on the center's earlier studies to
understand development and metastasis of melanoma-like cells in tadpoles as
well as work applying artificial intelligence to help explain planarian
regeneration. The new findings, Levin said, indicate that "our methodology
can be taken well beyond simple organisms and applied to the physiology of cell
behavior in vertebrates."
For the Science Signaling work, the researchers applied a
type of artificial intelligence called evolutionary computation to pinpoint the
molecular mechanisms underlying earlier research in which they induced normal
pigment cells in embryonic Xenopus laevis frogs to metastasize. Researchers
used a series of drugs to disrupt the cells' normal bioelectrical and
serotonergic signaling at a crucial stage of development. Even in the absence
of DNA damage or exposure to carcinogens, the pigment cells of the affected
embryos acquired bizarre, branch-like shapes and developed other melanoma-like
characteristics, proliferating uncontrollably and invading the frogs’ internal
organs.