Question

How can cell communication be disrupted?

Answer 1

Cell communication is known as the ability of cells to communicate with adjacent ones within an organism and is important in case of signaling and maintain homeostasis.

Complete answer:
Cells are capable of transmitting and receiving signals either from adjacent cells or the surrounding. The signals received by the cells are transmitted either directly across the cell membrane or via cell surface receptor. Signals from either the receptor or the cell membrane are then taken up by specific proteins which pass it to other proteins, leading to amplification of the signal finally resulting in a large response.

Cell communication is of three major types- through gap junctions, through tight signals and through desmosome cell junctions. Since cell communication takes place by the help of several proteins together making up the signaling cascade, it is possible to disrupt cell communication by altering one or more proteins of the signaling cascade so it can no longer receive and amplify the signal.

Cell communication can also be stopped by modifying the cell surface receptor to which the ligand originally binds or components of the cell membrane that do not allow the signal to pass through. Disruption of cell communication has severe harmful effects, one of the most prominent one being cancer.

Note: There are a large number of cell communication pathways that take place in the body which is responsible for the normal functioning of the system. Disruption to them can cause serious diseases like multiple sclerosis, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, stroke and cancer.