Tumour

• Tumours are groups of abnormal cells that form lumps or growths. They can start in any one of the trillions of cells in our bodies.
• Tumours grow and behave differently, depending on whether they are cancerous (malignant), non-cancerous (benign) or precancerous.

Why in News?

• Improving on techniques for testing cancer drugs, researchers from IIT Guwahati have come up with silk-protein–based tumour models. 

How is the new model different?

• An alternative to testing cancer drugs using patient-derived cell lines or animal models, the silk protein based models involve fabrication of a bio-active composite of silk proteins from two species of silk moths and building a scaffolding that provides a three-dimensional base for growing tumouroids.
• Normally, cancer drugs are tested using patient-derived primary cancer cells, on tumours induced in animal models or on genetically modified organisms. However, these models are insufficient to reproduce the three-dimensional morphology and physiology of human tumours and hence show inaccuracies in drug screening.
• Though animal models are better at this, they can show a variation depending on the species used. Moreover, animal models are expensive to maintain and can increase the cost of drug development. In this context, the silk-protein–based tumour models developed by the group come as a useful intervention.

Advantage

• As an alternative to existing cancer models, this tissue-engineered 3D silk-based tumour model imitates native tumour microenvironment, complex tumour physiology and metastasis, thus improving drug screening efficacy.

 Reference:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/silk-protein-based-tumour-models-for-testing-out-cancer-drugs/article33769625.ece