Minimization of thermodynamic costs in cancer cell invasion

Metastasis, the truly lethal aspect of cancer, occurs when metastatic cancer cells in a tumor break through the basement membrane and penetrate the extracellular matrix. We show that MDA-MB-231 metastatic breast cancer cells cooperatively invade a 3D collagen matrix while following a glucose gradien...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2013-01, Vol.110 (5), p.1686-1691
Main Authors: Liu, Liyu, Duclos, Guillaume, Sun, Bo, Lee, Jeongseog, Wu, Amy, Kam, Yoonseok, Sontag, Eduardo D., Stone, Howard A., Sturm, James C., Gatenby, Robert A., Austin, Robert H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological Sciences
Breast cancer
Breast Neoplasms - genetics
Breast Neoplasms - metabolism
Breast Neoplasms - pathology
Cancer
Cell Culture Techniques
Cell Line, Tumor
Cell lines
Cell Movement
Cells
Chemotaxis
Collagen
Collagen - metabolism
Collagens
Epithelial cells
Extracellular Matrix - metabolism
Female
Gels
Genotype & phenotype
Glucose - metabolism
Humans
Imaging
Luminescent Proteins - genetics
Luminescent Proteins - metabolism
MCF-7 Cells
Metastasis
Microscopy, Confocal
Microscopy, Fluorescence
Neoplasm Invasiveness
Neoplasm Metastasis
Thermodynamics
Time Factors
Tumor Microenvironment
Tumors
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Summary:Metastasis, the truly lethal aspect of cancer, occurs when metastatic cancer cells in a tumor break through the basement membrane and penetrate the extracellular matrix. We show that MDA-MB-231 metastatic breast cancer cells cooperatively invade a 3D collagen matrix while following a glucose gradient. The invasion front of the cells is a dynamic one, with different cells assuming the lead on a time scale of 70 h. The front cell leadership is dynamic presumably because of metabolic costs associated with a long-range strain field that precedes the invading cell front, which we have imaged using confocal imaging and marker beads imbedded in the collagen matrix. We suggest this could be a quantitative assay for an invasive phenotype tracking a glucose gradient and show that the invading cells act in a cooperative manner by exchanging leaders in the invading front.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1221147110