Survival skills ensure that cancer spreads

Gomis, Roger R.

doi:10.1038/d41586-019-02570-z

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04 September 2019

Survival skills ensure that cancer spreads

How cancer cells migrate to a secondary site and become established there is not fully understood. An analysis of mouse and human cancer cells could help settle the debate about the role of the protein E-cadherin in this process.

Roger R. Gomis⁰

Roger R. Gomis
1. Roger R. Gomis is in the Oncology Program, Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona 08028, Spain, and at CIBERONC, Barcelona, Spain, at the University of Barcelona, and at the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, Barcelona.
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When cancer spreads from its primary site to become established at a secondary location, this process, termed metastasis, is often fatal. The timing of metastasis initiation varies depending on the size, stage and differentiation status of the tumour at the primary site¹. Metastasis probably requires cancer cells to undergo changes, including those that promote the acquisition of invasive properties. Loss of expression of the protein E-cadherin enables cells to migrate, but how E-cadherin fulfils its role as a central regulator of metastasis isn’t fully understood². Writing in Nature, Padmanaban et al.³ report that E-cadherin contributes to an aspect of metastasis that differs from the protein’s previously known effect on cell invasion and migration.

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Nature 573, 353-354 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02570-z

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