Melanoma cells break down LPA to establish local gradients that drive chemotactic dispersal.

ABSTRACT: The high mortality of melanoma is caused by rapid spread of cancer cells, which occurs unusually early in tumour evolution. Unlike most solid tumours, thickness rather than cytological markers or differentiation is the best guide to metastatic potential. Multiple stimuli that drive melanoma cell migration have been described, but it is not clear which are responsible for invasion, nor if chemotactic gradients exist in real tumours. In a chamber-based assay for melanoma dispersal, we find that cells migrate efficiently away from one another, even in initially homogeneous medium. This dispersal is driven by positive chemotaxis rather than chemorepulsion or contact inhibition. The principal chemoattractant, unexpectedly active across all tumour stages, is the lipid agonist lysophosphatidic ac

SUBMITTER: Muinonen-Martin AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4196730 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature