Intravital imaging reveals transient changes in pigment production and Brn2 expression during metastatic melanoma dissemination.

ABSTRACT: How melanoma acquire a metastatic phenotype is a key issue. One possible mechanism is that metastasis is driven by microenvironment-induced switching between noninvasive and invasive states. However, whether switching is a reversible or hierarchical process is not known and is difficult to assess by comparison of primary and metastatic tumors. We address this issue in a model of melanoma metastasis using a novel intravital imaging method for melanosomes combined with a reporter construct in which the Brn-2 promoter drives green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression. A subpopulation of cells containing little or no pigment and high levels of Brn2::GFP expression are motile in the primary tumor and enter the vasculature. Significantly, the less differentiated state of motile and intravasated

SUBMITTER: Pinner S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2763120 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature