Loss of inter-cellular cooperation by complete epithelial-mesenchymal transition supports favorable outcomes in basal breast cancer patients.

ABSTRACT: According to the sequential metastasis model, aggressive mesenchymal (M) metastasis-initiating cells (MICs) are generated by an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) which eventually is reversed by a mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) and outgrowth of life-threatening epithelial (E) macrometastases. Paradoxically, in breast cancer M signatures are linked with more favorable outcomes than E signatures, and M cells are often dispensable for metastasis in mouse models. Here we present evidence at the cellular and patient level for the cooperation metastasis model, according to which E cells are MICs, while M cells merely support E cell persistence through cooperation. We tracked the fates of co-cultured E and M clones and of fluorescent CDH1-promoter-driven cell lines reporting the E s

SUBMITTER: Grosse-Wilde A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5929443 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature