Identification and Characterization of Cancer Cells That Initiate Metastases to the Brain and Other Organs.

ABSTRACT: Specific biological properties of those circulating cancer cells that are the origin of brain metastases (BM) are not well understood. Here, single circulating breast cancer cells were fate-tracked during all steps of the brain metastatic cascade in mice after intracardial injection over weeks. A novel in vivo two-photon microscopy methodology was developed that allowed to determine the specific cellular and molecular features of breast cancer cells that homed in the brain, extravasated, and successfully established a brain macrometastasis. Those BM-initiating breast cancer cells (BMIC) were mainly originating from a slow-cycling subpopulation that included only 16% to 20% of all circulating cancer cells. BMICs showed enrichment of various markers of cellular stemness. As a proof of

SUBMITTER: Berghoff AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9281611 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature