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TGF-β helps cells fly solo

Nature Cell Biology volume 11, pages 1281–1284 (2009)Cite this article

Intravital imaging demonstrates that TGF-β signalling regulates the mode of cancer cell motility. Cells with active TGF-β signalling migrate as single cells and are capable of hematogenous and lymphatic spread, whereas cells lacking TGF-β signalling invade lymphatics collectively.

Migration is a key characteristic of malignant tumour cells and an essential step in the metastatic cascade. Whereas many tumour cells seem to migrate with a mesenchymal phenotype, others migrate as chains or groups that maintain epithelial characteristics. On page 1287 of this issue, Sahai and colleagues use elegant intravital imaging studies to visualize either collective or single cell migration of cancer cells1. These two migratory phenotypes are regulated by many factors, but the authors show that the TGF-β/Smad signalling axis can drive a switch to single cell migration, and that the mode of migration determines the way that tumours spread to secondary sites.

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Figure 1: Both single cell and collective cell motility can occur during cancer cell invasion and metastasis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lauren Matise, Michael Pickup and Harold Moses are at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232-6838, USA. hal.moses@vanderbilt.edu.,

    Lauren A. Matise, Michael W. Pickup & Harold L. Moses

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  1. Lauren A. Matise
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  2. Michael W. Pickup
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  3. Harold L. Moses
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Matise, L., Pickup, M. & Moses, H. TGF-β helps cells fly solo. Nat Cell Biol 11, 1281–1284 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb1109-1281

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