Researchers, internationally, convened to study a microscopy technique on zebrafish larvae as a way to understand how wound healing leads to instances of skin cancer. The live images showed that the protective inflammatory cells of the body’s immune system (the neutrophils) can be diverted from a wound to other nearby precancerous cells. This inflammation of the skin caused the cells to rapidly divide and progress to the level of melanoma.
The researchers were quoted as saying the “results provide direct visual evidence of a physical link between wound-associated inflammation and the development of skin cancer.” The technique showed that the white blood cells that serve as the body’s immune system are overtaken by precancerous skin cells and that can lead to a proliferation of tumor cells as were shown to happen in the zebrafish study. The cellular changes in the zebrafish were observed with a confocal laser scanning microscope.
The research further revealed to the researchers a certain type of molecule that was released by the neutrophils that could be the signal that would drive the cancerous cell growth.
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