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Extracellular fluid viscosity enhances cell migration and cancer dissemination
Elevated viscosity counterintuitively increases the motility of various cell types in vitro and imprints mechanical memory to tumour cells, which enables them to disseminate more efficiently in vivo.
- Kaustav Bera
- , Alexander Kiepas
- & Konstantinos Konstantopoulos
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Article |
Retrograde movements determine effective stem cell numbers in the intestine
Small intestinal crypts contain twice as many effective stem cells as large intestinal crypts, and this difference is determined by the degree of Wnt-driven retrograde cell movement—which is largely absent in the large intestine—counteracting conveyor-belt-like upward movement.
- Maria Azkanaz
- , Bernat Corominas-Murtra
- & Jacco van Rheenen
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Article |
PHGDH heterogeneity potentiates cancer cell dissemination and metastasis
PHDGH heterogeneity in primary tumours could be a sign of tumour aggressiveness.
- Matteo Rossi
- , Patricia Altea-Manzano
- & Sarah-Maria Fendt
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Matters Arising |
Reply to: Zebrafish prrx1a mutants have normal hearts
- Noemi Castroviejo
- , Oscar H. Ocaña
- & M. Angela Nieto
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Article |
Cellular locomotion using environmental topography
Within three-dimensional environments, leukocytes can migrate even in the complete absence of adhesive forces using the topographical features of the substrate to propel themselves.
- Anne Reversat
- , Florian Gaertner
- & Michael Sixt
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Article |
A GPR174–CCL21 module imparts sexual dimorphism to humoral immunity
Male and female B cells show differing abilities to localize and contribute to germinal centres, in a way that depends on the G-protein-coupled guidance receptor GPR174 and its chemokine ligand CCL21.
- Ruozhu Zhao
- , Xin Chen
- & Hai Qi
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Letter |
Nuclear positioning facilitates amoeboid migration along the path of least resistance
Geometrically defined microenvironments are used to show that leukocytes migrate along chemokine gradients using the nucleus as a mechanical gauge to sample potential paths and identify the path of least resistance.
- Jörg Renkawitz
- , Aglaja Kopf
- & Michael Sixt
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Letter |
S-Geranylgeranyl-l-glutathione is a ligand for human B cell-confinement receptor P2RY8
S-geranylgeranyl-l-glutathione (GGG) is identified as a cell signalling molecule that interacts with the receptor P2RY8 to mediate migration inhibition and growth regulation of germinal-centre B cells.
- Erick Lu
- , Finn D. Wolfreys
- & Jason G. Cyster
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Article |
Role of glutamine synthetase in angiogenesis beyond glutamine synthesis
The enzyme glutamine synthetase is active in endothelial cell migration during angiogenesis, through autopalmitoylation and the regulation of RHOJ signalling.
- Guy Eelen
- , Charlotte Dubois
- & Peter Carmeliet
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Article |
MAP4K4 regulates integrin-FERM binding to control endothelial cell motility
A new MAP4K4–moesin–talin–β1-integrin pathway regulating endothelial cell motility was discovered through chemical and siRNA screens; loss of Map4k4 or inhibition of MAP4K4 kinase activity altered the sprout morphology of endothelial cells during angiogenesis by blocking moesin phosphorylation, which regulates the disassembly of focal adhesions, demonstrating that this pathway is involved in both normal and pathological angiogenesis.
- Philip Vitorino
- , Stacey Yeung
- & Weilan Ye
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Article |
Endophilin marks and controls a clathrin-independent endocytic pathway
This study describes a fast, clathrin-independent endocytic pathway mediated by endophilin, dynamin and actin; the pathway is activated by ligand binding to a variety of cargo receptors, and endophilin-mediated endocytosis occurs primarily at the leading edges of cells where lamellipodin and the lipid PtdIns(3,4)P2 ensure endophilin targeting.
- Emmanuel Boucrot
- , Antonio P. A. Ferreira
- & Harvey T. McMahon
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Letter |
Inhibitory signalling to the Arp2/3 complex steers cell migration
A new protein, Arpin, is identified that inhibits the Arp2/3 complex and controls cell migration by decreasing cell speed and the directional persistence of migration; this inhibitory circuit is under the control of the small GTPase Rac1, and Arpin depletion causes faster lamellipodia protrusion and increased cell migration.
- Irene Dang
- , Roman Gorelik
- & Alexis Gautreau
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Letter |
αTAT1 catalyses microtubule acetylation at clathrin-coated pits
In eukaryotic cells, a subset of microtubules undergoes acetylation, resulting in stabilization: here, clathrin-coated pits are shown to control microtubule acetylation through a direct interaction between the α-tubulin acetyltransferase αTAT1 and the clathrin adaptor AP2, promoting directional cell migration.
- Guillaume Montagnac
- , Vannary Meas-Yedid
- & Philippe Chavrier
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Letter |
Neutrophil swarms require LTB4 and integrins at sites of cell death in vivo
Two-photon intravital imaging is used here to define the regulation of interstitial neutrophil migration at local sites of cell death upon sterile tissue injury and infection; leukotriene B4 (LTB4) is shown to act between neutrophils as a signal relay molecule that acts to enhance the radius of neutrophil recruitment within the inflamed interstitium, and also to control, in concert with integrin receptors, dense neutrophil clustering for tight wound seal formation.
- Tim Lämmermann
- , Philippe V. Afonso
- & Ronald N. Germain
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Letter |
Follicular T-helper cell recruitment governed by bystander B cells and ICOS-driven motility
ICOS ligand expression by bystander B cells is shown to induce pseudopod extension and migration of CXCR5-expressing T-helper cells into B-cell follicles, where they provide help to cognate B cells for germinal centre development.
- Heping Xu
- , Xuanying Li
- & Hai Qi
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Letter |
Visualization of splenic marginal zone B-cell shuttling and follicular B-cell egress
Lymphocyte migration in the spleen is visualized live in mice using a real-time two-photon laser-scanning microscopy approach revealing that marginal zone and follicular B cells are highly motile and can shuttle between compartments, and integrin adhesion is the key to cellular retention in the marginal zone.
- Tal I. Arnon
- , Robert M. Horton
- & Jason G. Cyster
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Letter |
Controlling interneuron activity in Caenorhabditis elegans to evoke chemotactic behaviour
Optogenetic neuronal control of freely moving Caenorhabditis elegans to drive the animals up virtual ‘optical’ gradients combined with real-time tracking demonstrates that a single pair of interneurons is technically sufficient to determine such guided locomotion.
- Askin Kocabas
- , Ching-Han Shen
- & Sharad Ramanathan
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Research Highlights |
Cells ride on stress waves
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Letter |
Generalized Lévy walks and the role of chemokines in migration of effector CD8+ T cells
T cells in the brains of Toxoplasma-infected mice are shown to move by Lévy-like walks.
- Tajie H. Harris
- , Edward J. Banigan
- & Christopher A. Hunter
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News & Views |
Adaptation by target remodelling
Bacteria direct their movement in response to certain chemicals by controlling the rotation of whip-like appendages called flagella. The sensitivity of the response can be adjusted at the signal's target, the flagellar motor. See Letter p.233
- Gerald L. Hazelbauer
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Letter |
Adaptation at the output of the chemotaxis signalling pathway
The motor driving cells during chemotaxis is very sensitive to levels of CheY-P, a signalling protein; counter-intuitively, the motor is tuned to the cells’ output of CheY-P by adjusting the number of CheY-P receptors in the motor, thereby increasing or decreasing the motor’s sensitivity to CheY-P.
- Junhua Yuan
- , Richard W. Branch
- & Howard C. Berg
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Research Highlights |
Bacteria signal to survive
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Letter |
Basic amino-acid side chains regulate transmembrane integrin signalling
Loss of a snorkelling residue in integrin β TMDs changes membrane embedding and affects transmembrane signalling, showing that snorkelling can have an important role in signal transduction
- Chungho Kim
- , Thomas Schmidt
- & Mark H. Ginsberg
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Letter |
Basigin is a receptor essential for erythrocyte invasion by Plasmodium falciparum
- Cécile Crosnier
- , Leyla Y. Bustamante
- & Gavin J. Wright
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News & Views |
Why tumours eat tryptophan
Tumours increase their consumption of the amino acid tryptophan to evade immune control. But how does this work? A study shows that the main product of this consumption binds to a receptor involved in the immune system. See Article p.197
- George C. Prendergast
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Letter |
Corridors of migrating neurons in the human brain and their decline during infancy
- Nader Sanai
- , Thuhien Nguyen
- & Arturo Alvarez-Buylla
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Letter |
Different patterns of peripheral migration by memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells
- Thomas Gebhardt
- , Paul G. Whitney
- & Scott N. Mueller
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Letter |
Oxysterols direct immune cell migration via EBI2
- Sébastien Hannedouche
- , Juan Zhang
- & Andreas W. Sailer
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Letter |
Oxysterols direct B-cell migration through EBI2
- Changlu Liu
- , Xia V. Yang
- & Timothy W. Lovenberg
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News |
Cancer theory faces doubts
A leading explanation for how disease migrates falls short on clinical evidence.
- Heidi Ledford
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Letter |
DISC1-dependent switch from progenitor proliferation to migration in the developing cortex
- Koko Ishizuka
- , Atsushi Kamiya
- & Akira Sawa
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Letter |
Ephrin Bs are essential components of the Reelin pathway to regulate neuronal migration
- Aycan Sentürk
- , Sylvia Pfennig
- & Amparo Acker-Palmer
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Letter |
CKIα ablation highlights a critical role for p53 in invasiveness control
This study shows, via a mouse model of intestinal cancer, that in the absence of CKIα, the loss of p53 dramatically enhances tumour progression and metastasis. p53 is shown to normally limit cancer cell invasion via the regulation of p21 and a set of invasion genes that include Prox1. This study adds important insights to the emerging picture that during tumour development the p53 tumour suppressor gene not only controls cell death and proliferation but also metastasis.
- Ela Elyada
- , Ariel Pribluda
- & Yinon Ben-Neriah
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Research Highlights |
Cell biology: Genes that make cells move
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Letter |
Interdependence of behavioural variability and response to small stimuli in bacteria
In his study of Brownian motion, Einstein realized that the same random molecular movements characterizing a substance at rest should affect, for example, the drag it opposes to a particle pushed through it. This was later generalized as the fluctuation–response theorem (FRT), but whether and how it may apply to biological systems, which operate far from equilibrium, has remained an open question. Based on the unmatched fine-scale measurements possible in the study of bacterial chemotaxis, it is now revealed that the FRT does apply in this case, and ways to dissect which features in the biochemical network couple its internal states with its responses to external stimuli are suggested.
- Heungwon Park
- , William Pontius
- & Philippe Cluzel
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News & Views |
Actin filaments up against a wall
The front of motile cells is thought to be pushed out by branched filaments of actin protein abutting the cell membrane. New work challenges this textbook view, showing that actin branches grow away from, or obliquely to, a surface.
- Cécile Sykes
- & Julie Plastino
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Letter |
CHD7 cooperates with PBAF to control multipotent neural crest formation
Heterozygous mutations in the gene encoding CHD7, an ATP-dependent chromatin-remodelling protein, result in CHARGE syndrome — a disorder characterized by malformations of the craniofacial structures, peripheral nervous system, ears, eyes and heart. In humans and Xenopus, CHD7 is now shown to be essential for the formation of multipotent migratory neural crest and for activating the transcriptional circuitry of the neural crest; shedding light on the pathoembryology of CHARGE syndrome.
- Ruchi Bajpai
- , Denise A. Chen
- & Joanna Wysocka
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Research Highlights |
Cancer biology: Kicking out cancer cells
Neuronal migration prevents spatial competition in retinal morphogenesis