Basement membrane-rich organoids with functional human blood vessels are permissive niches for human breast cancer metastasis.

ABSTRACT: Metastatic breast cancer is the leading cause of death by malignancy in women worldwide. Tumor metastasis is a multistep process encompassing local invasion of cancer cells at primary tumor site, intravasation into the blood vessel, survival in systemic circulation, and extravasation across the endothelium to metastasize at a secondary site. However, only a small percentage of circulating cancer cells initiate metastatic colonies. This fact, together with the inaccessibility and structural complexity of target tissues has hampered the study of the later steps in cancer metastasis. In addition, most data are derived from in vivo models where critical steps such as intravasation/extravasation of human cancer cells are mediated by murine endothelial cells. Here, we developed a new mouse model

SUBMITTER: Fernandez-Perianez R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3738545 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature