Abstract
Epithelial cells require attachment to the extracellular matrix (ECM) for survival. However, during tumour progression and metastasis, cancerous epithelial cells must adapt to and survive in the absence of ECM. During the past 20 years, several cellular changes, including anoikis, have been shown to regulate cell viability when cells become detached from the ECM. In this Opinion article, we review in detail how cancer cells can overcome or take advantage of these specific processes. Gaining a better understanding of how cancer cells survive during detachment from the ECM will be instrumental in designing chemotherapeutic strategies that aim to eliminate ECM-detached metastatic cells.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank V. Schafer, C. Versagli and R. Rayavarapu for critical reading of the manuscript. The authors thank the V Foundation for Cancer Research, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the American Cancer Society, the Center for Rare and Neglected Disease at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA, the Advanced Diagnostics & Therapeutics Initiative at the University of Notre Dame, and the Coleman Foundation for financial support. The authors apologize to any colleagues whose important contributions to the field were not included in this review owing to space constraints.
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Buchheit, C., Weigel, K. & Schafer, Z. Cancer cell survival during detachment from the ECM: multiple barriers to tumour progression. Nat Rev Cancer 14, 632–641 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3789
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3789
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