Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS AND VIEWS

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.
  1. 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.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

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.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 573, 353-354 (2019)

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

References

  1. Kennecke, H. et al. J. Clin. Oncol. 28, 3271–3277 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Bogenrieder, T. & Herlyn, M. Oncogene 22, 6524–6536 (2003).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Padmanaban, V. et al. Nature 573, 439–444 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Yang, J. & Weinberg, R. A. Dev. Cell 14, 818–829 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Nakaya, Y. & Sheng, G. Dev. Growth Differ. 50, 755–766 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Haensel, D. & Dai, X. Dev. Dyn. 247, 473–480 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Aiello, N. M. & Kang, Y. J. Exp. Med. 216, 1016–1026 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Onder, T. T. et al. Cancer Res. 68, 3645–3654 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Frixen, U. H. et al. J. Cell Biol. 113, 173–185 (1991).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Derksen, P. W. B. et al. Cancer Cell 10, 437–449 (2006).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Ciriello, G. et al. Cell 163, 506–519 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Onder, T. T. et al. Cancer Res. 68, 3645–3654 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Chaffer, C. L. et al. Cancer Res. 66, 11271–11287 (2006).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Acs, G., Lawton, T. J., Rebbeck, T. R., LiVolsi, V. A. & Zhang, P. J. Am. J. Clin. Pathol. 115, 85–98 (2001).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Kowalski, P. J., Rubin, M. A. & Kleer, C. G. Breast Cancer Res. 5, R217–R222 (2003).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Pastushenko, I. & Blanpain, C. Trends Cell Biol. 29, 212–226 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Zhang, Z. et al. Cell Death Dis. 9, 83 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Pastushenko, I. et al. Nature 556, 463–468 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Aceto, N. et al. Cell 158, 1110–1122 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links