A University of Iowa researcher contributed to a recent study that helps show how calcium drives cells to move in the right direction. Because this directional cell movement is fundamental to such processes as tissue formation, wound healing and tumor metastasis, the finding could help lead to new treatments for human diseases.

The investigation was led by researchers at Peking University and appears in the February 12 print issue of the journal Nature.

The study resolves a long-standing paradox about intracellular calcium in migrating cells, said study author Long-Sheng Song, MD, assistant professor of internal medicine at the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, who is a scientist with expertise in calcium imaging.

"Previous research indicated that intracellular calcium was more highly concentrated at the tail end, rather than at the leading edge, of migrating cells," Song said. "But because cells want to advance, the leading edge supposedly would require a higher concentration of calcium in order to influence the proteins that drive the cell to migrate.

"More important, this study unmasked the molecular basis underlying the genesis of the calcium flickers, and it provides clues for future study of cell migration," Song said. "In turn, the research could provide direction for developing new therapies for human diseases."

Long-Sheng Song, MD

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UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine