The Leader Position of Mesenchymal Cells Expressing N-Cadherin in the Collective Migration of Epithelial Cancer.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how heterogeneous cancer cell populations migrate collectively is of paramount importance to arrest metastasis. Here, we applied 3D culture-based approaches for in vitro modeling of the collective migration of squamous carcinoma cells and examine the impact of epithelial and mesenchymal cell interactions on this type of migration. We show that both mesenchymal N-cadherin-expressing cancer cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts cooperate in collective migration of epithelial cancer cells by leading their collective migration. This was consistent with the observed distribution of E-cadherin/N-cadherin in the human carcinoma tissues of head and neck. The presence of "leader" mesenchymal cancer cells or "leader" fibroblasts was significantly associated with metastasis developmen

SUBMITTER: Saenz-de-Santa-Maria I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7140612 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature