{"id":424853,"date":"2026-04-30T08:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T08:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/424853\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T08:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T08:36:08","slug":"how-a-timing-filter-could-help-target-cancer-and-fibrosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/424853\/","title":{"rendered":"How a timing filter could help target cancer and fibrosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Fibrillar<\/a>Fibrillar adhesion dynamics govern the timescales of nuclear mechano-response via the vimentin cytoskeleton<\/p>\n

Credit\u00a9
\nInstitute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC)
\n Researchers have found that cells use a \u201clow-pass filter\u201d to ignore short-term physical stress while reacting to sustained forces. By using vimentin fibres to \u201chold\u201d mechanical signals for up to an hour, cells decide when to activate disease-linked proteins<\/p>\n

This discovery offers a new way to target the mechanical triggers behind cancer and organ scarring.<\/p>\n

Scientists at King\u2019s College London and the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) have discovered that cells<\/a> don\u2019t just feel physical pressure\u2014they measure its duration.<\/p>\n

According to the study published in Nature Materials in 2026, cells use a biological \u201clow-pass filter\u201d to ignore brief disturbances while reacting to the sustained forces that drive diseases like cancer and fibrosis.<\/p>\n

The biological \u201clow-pass filter\u201d<\/p>\n

In a healthy body, cells are constantly bombarded by fast, repetitive forces from breathing, heartbeats, or a filling bladder. These are \u201cnoise\u201d that the cell needs to ignore. However, during wound healing or tumour growth, tissues undergo slow, persistent changes in stiffness.<\/p>\n

The research team found that cells use a specific timing mechanism to tell the difference. Much like a driver might ignore a brief engine rattle but investigate a persistent one, cells only trigger a major response\u2014such as activating the cancer-linked protein YAP\u2014if a force lasts long enough to be considered a legitimate signal.<\/p>\n

Gripping the nucleus: Fibrillar adhesions and vimentin<\/p>\n

The researchers identified the physical \u201cmachinery\u201d behind this decision-making process. The cell uses specialised contact points called fibrillar adhesions to grip its surroundings.<\/p>\n

The holding mechanism:<\/p>\n

When a sustained force is applied, these adhesions physically deform the cell\u2019s nucleus.<\/p>\n

The memory network:<\/p>\n

A network of fibers called vimentin acts like a biological glue, \u201cholding\u201d the nucleus in that deformed state for about an hour, even if the force fluctuates.<\/p>\n

The threshold:<\/p>\n

If the force is too brief, the vimentin-adhesion system doesn\u2019t lock in, and the cell simply resets without reacting.<\/p>\n

Why this matters for disease treatment<\/p>\n

In diseases like fibrosis (the scarring of organs) and cancer, the environment around cells becomes permanently stiff and pressurised. Because cells are \u201cprogrammed\u201d to respond to these long-term mechanical changes, they can enter a runaway cycle of disease progression.<\/p>\n

By understanding how cells \u201ctime\u201d these signals, researchers could potentially design therapies that:<\/p>\n

Disrupt the filter:<\/p>\n

Preventing cells in a tumour from \u201clatching onto\u201d the signals that tell them to grow or spread.<\/p>\n

Protect the nucleus:<\/p>\n

This timing mechanism also serves to protect the nucleus from physical damage; manipulating it could help prevent DNA mutations caused by mechanical stress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fibrillar adhesion dynamics govern the timescales of nuclear mechano-response via the vimentin cytoskeleton Credit\u00a9 Institute for Bioengineering of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[7644,4731,61,60,82],"class_list":["post-424853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-biology","tag-cancer-research","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}