Long Prehensile Protrusions Can Facilitate Cancer Cell Invasion through the Basement Membrane.

ABSTRACT: A basic process in cancer is the breaching of basement-membrane barriers to permit tissue invasion. Cancer cells can use proteases and physical mechanisms to produce initial holes in basement membranes, but how cells squeeze through this barrier into matrix environments is not well understood. We used a 3D invasion model consisting of cancer-cell spheroids encapsulated by a basement membrane and embedded in collagen to characterize the dynamic early steps in cancer-cell invasion across this barrier. We demonstrate that certain cancer cells extend exceptionally long (~30-100 μm) protrusions through basement membranes via actin and microtubule cytoskeletal function. These long protrusions use integrin adhesion and myosin II-based contractility to pull cells through the basement membrane for

SUBMITTER: Nazari SS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10605924 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature