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Anne Li                                                                                                March 4th, 2017

Cells are controlled by the relay of thousands of different messages. These messages flow from outside the cell to inside (and vice versa), causing the cell to grow, divide, or in some cases die. These processes go wrong in cancer cells. Some messages become hyped up, while other restraint signals are ignored. One way cancer cells can ignore these signals is to get rid of the machinery that recognises them. And finger-like structures called primary cilia are part of this machinery. Cilia are found on the surface of almost all cells. But they’re missing from most cancer cells. They act like antennae, receiving messages from the world around them. Relaying these signals puts the brakes on processes that cancer cells need to grow. So it makes sense that these antennae are often missing in tumours.

See original article at: https://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2017/03/02/science-snaps-fixing-a-cellular-antenna/