Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi Science Expert,
My name is Haarini and I have started thinking of an idea for my next year's science fair project. I have some questions pertaining to my idea which I have listed below so I can have an idea as to whether my idea is quite feasible or not.
- Do cancerous tumours that can be felt under the skin have blood flow through them and do lipomas (fat masses) not have blood flow through them?
- Can a lump felt on the skin be distinguished as cancerous or non-cancerous by a typical family physician, or would tests be required to figure that out?
- Is there already a simple way without the use of MRI scans, CT scans or x-rays to distinguish between a cancerous or non-cancerous mass under the skin?

Thank you for reading through this post!
Regards,
Haarini

Hi Haarini!

-Yes, tumors and lipomas have blood vessels that allows them to survive.
-Typically, when a tumor is detected it can't be diagnosed as cancer until a biopsy(looking at tissue from the tumor under a microscope and performing tests) is performed.
-Even though scans and blood work can be done to help the diagnosis, it's difficult to determine whether its cancerous without a biopsy.

Hope this helps with your project!

Hi emillan!
Thank you for the response, it really helped in the creation of my project. I just have one more question about blood vessels in tumors. Is there a significant difference between the angiogenesis of lipomas compared to the angiogenesis of cancerous tumors? From the research that I have done, I have mainly seen chemical biomarkers such as the overexpression of VEGF-A proteins in cancerous tumors and physical properties such as irregular branching. However, is there something different in terms of the blood flow in specific which differentiates cancer tumors and benign tumors?
Thanks for your help!
Regards,
Haarini

Hey Haarini!

This is such an interesting topic! It's a great project that relates to real life medical issues.

I do not know much about angiogenesis in malignant and benign tumors, but through a Google search, you can find some resources. I found this study, which concludes that there is less blood flow resistance in cancerous ovarian cells.

https://www.ejmanager.com/mnstemps/60/60-1358951421.pdf

I also found this study, which states, "The vessels of malignant tumors significantly demonstrated poor SMA expression and intense CD34 expression compared with the vessels of benign tumors. However, no significant differences were observed in MVD between the benign and malignant tumors."

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/ful ... 0.CO%3B2-R

I'm sorry I'm not too knowledgeable on this topic, but I hoped this helped. Good luck! Feel free to come back with any questions.

Emma

Hi Emma,
Thanks for the response. It really helped with my research on this topic. I'm thinking of just keeping this project in the physical characteristics of cancer rather compared to the chemical aspects since biopsies would be needed to look at chemical aspects. I'm thinking of looking at the blood flow aspect of cancer and I have a few questions regarding that:
Has blood flow into a tumor ever been looked at to distinguish between cancer and lipomas?
Can photoplethysmography (the same technology used to measure blood pressure) or doppler ultrasound be used to diagnose cancer?
Thank you for your help and support.
Regards,
Haarini

Hey Haarini,

These are some very thought out questions! I'm really impressed with your level of involvement with your project.

From what I have read through a Google search, biopsies are the most typical way to distinguish lipomas and cancerous tumors. I am not sure how blood flow would be used to detect cancer (again, I'm not really educated on this concept).

There are different types of lipomas based on blood flow. Angiolipomas receive more blood flow than regular lipomas. This makes it harder to use blood flow as a distinguishing factor because there are variations of blood flow between lipomas.

I also know that all cells need blood in order to survive and reproduce, so I'm guessing that cancerous cells need more blood flow since they divide so rapidly (however, I am very unsure of this. This is only a vague assumption).

Your topic is very advanced and I encourage you to keep moving on with it! I am not too educated on this topic, but there are people out there who make a living from cancer research and other related studies! I think it would be a great idea to reach out to a doctor, scientist, or any other knowledgeable person online. I'm sure there are some people who would be willing to answer these questions. You can find someone to interview by finding contact information online. I can help you with this if you wish.

I hope this helps. Don't give up!

Emma

Here is a link to a list of places where you can ask scientists your questions:

https://www.scienceinschool.org/2007/issue6/web

You can also find resources by Googling "ask a scientist" or searching the contact information for certain scientists

Hi Haarini!

I just wanted to add that we have a section on Science Buddies for interviewing Experts in a wide array of fields! Please feel free to ask questions on there about your topic (a very interesting topic btw ). However, keep in mind the rules that must be followed while using the Interview forum:

viewtopic.php?t=7285

(view the post by Former Expert Barrett L Tomlinson)

Hope this helps!

Thank you for all of your responses to my questions. They were very helpful in narrowing down my topic for my project. I found a mentor to help me with my research so I don't think I would need an interview from another researcher at the moment. Once again, thanks for all of your help!!!

Of course! Emma did a wonderful job explaining everything and I'm so glad that you found a mentor to help you with the research process. Let us know how your project goes!

Neha

Hi Science Experts,
My project is going towards a different direction related to blood cells and I have some questions about them that I have listed below.
Do lymphocytes have blue cytoplasms or is it because of the staining that it appears as that colour?
Have lymphocytes been imaged in vivo without being stained?

Thanks for your help!
Regards,
Haarini

Hey Haarini! As far as I know, cytoplasm is usually not a blue color, and if it had any, it would be very hard to tell. However, the nucleus of a lymphocyte is blue/purple because of staining. Here's an article I found that has a section about imaging lymphocytes in vivo (through the use of complex technology, however). Let us know if you have any more questions!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2953535/

Olivia

Hi Science Experts!
Thank you for all of your responses with regard to my previous questions. Now, I have some questions that are sort of unrelated to blood cells, rather they are focused on the topic of melanoma, and I hope that someone can help me find the answers to these questions.
Although melanoma cells get their pigmentation from melanin, is the pigment lipofuscin found in melanoma cells? I'm asking this question because some research suggests that lipofuscin is found in choroidal melanoma, but is it found in all melanoma cells?
If lipofuscin does exist in melanoma cells, will it also exist in the cells that metastasize through the lymph nodes along with the new masses that it forms as it metastasizes?
Thanks for helping me find the answers to my questions!!
Regards,
Haarini

Your enthusiasm and knowledge are wonderful, but you have to find out the ground rules allowed for your project. Most science fairs will not allow using malignant cells. How do you plan on keeping cells growing even if not cancerous? Will you be doing the project in a research lab?
Most importantly when thinking about a project, you have to have some idea how to do the project. In high school projects often simpler is better.
Good luck with science fair.
DrAJ

Hi Science experts,
In response to Dr. AJ, my science fair does allow the use of malignant cells as long as it isn't brought to the science fair itself since this idea is linked to the project that I did last year. Along with that, I will be doing my project at a research lab and the questions I asked are linked to expanding on my current idea so I could reach out to other potential mentors.
It would really help if anyone could possibly answer the following questions:

Although melanoma cells get their pigmentation from melanin, is the pigment lipofuscin found in melanoma cells? I'm asking this question because some research suggests that lipofuscin is found in choroidal melanoma, but is it found in all melanoma cells?
If lipofuscin does exist in melanoma cells, will it also exist in the cells that metastasize through the lymph nodes along with the new masses that it forms as it metastasizes?

Thanks for your help!
Regards,
Haarini

As you found online yourself, there is at least one example of lipofuscin being found in a type of melanoma, so yes it is found in at least one type. Your next question, however, would require humans to test every type of melanoma for lipofuscin, which we clearly cannot do. I assume that logically any pigment that builds up in a cancerous cell could remain in it after it migrated to the lymph nodes.
However, most of what I am reading about lipofuscin is that it is understood to be a marker of age in a cell. I think the use of staining for it as a cancer diagnostic tool is debated, but I am not a cancer biologist.
I don't think I can be of more help without a better understanding of what you hope to test.

Hi pharrast!
Thank you very much for your answer and I think that I can work around this answer to dig deeper into my project
Thanks once again!
Regards,
Haarini