tumoral cell invasion
The invasive and metastatic behaviour of tumours impacts crucially on the clinical management of cancer. Accordingly, it is important to understand the regulation of tumour cell invasiveness.
Invasion of cancer cells into surrounding tissue and the vasculature is an initial step in tumor metastasis (Metastasis). This requires chemotactic migration of cancer cells, steered by protrusive activity of the cell membrane and its attachment to the extracellular matrix.
Genetic analysis of worms, Drosophila and mice has provided evidence that invasion is a genetic pathway regulated by transcription factors that are often implicated in tumour cell invasion.
Recent evidence has revealed much concerning the role of one particular transcription factor, AP1, which is involved in the regulation of a multigenic invasion program in which upregulated and downregulated genes function as invasion effectors and suppressors, respectively.
Differentially expressed genes cooperatively enhance pseudopod elongation during the mesenchymal mode of invasion by altering the function, localisation and activity of non-differentially expressed proteins.
See also
tumoral cell invasion (cancer cell invasion)
tumoral cells
cancer cells
Metastasis
Videos
melanoma as a model of cancer spreading
References
Ozanne BW, Spence HJ, McGarry LC, Hennigan RF. Invasion is a genetic program regulated by transcription factors. Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2006 Feb;16(1):65-70. PMID: #16377173#
Cairns RA, Khokha R, Hill RP. Molecular mechanisms of tumor invasion and metastasis: an integrated view. Curr Mol Med. 2003 Nov;3(7):659-71. PMID: #14601640#
Yamaguchi H, Wyckoff J, Condeelis J. Cell migration in tumors. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2005 Oct;17(5):559-64. PMID: #16098726#
Sahai E. Mechanisms of cancer cell invasion. Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2005 Feb;15(1):87-96. PMID: #15661538#