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Metastasis

Signalling in transit

Nature Reviews Cancer volume 12, page 5 (2012)Cite this article

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To investigate this possibility, the authors first co-cultured platelets with mouse colon (MC38GFP) or breast (Ep5) carcinoma cells, and showed that these tumour cells (after the removal of the platelets) were able to induce more metastatic foci in the lungs following injection into the tail vein of mice, than tumour cells that had not been co-cultured with platelets. In vitro, the tumour cells seemed to undergo an epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) when co-cultured with platelets and could invade through a layer of Matrigel. Examination of the changes in gene expression induced in Ep5 cells by platelets revealed the activation of EMT-related genes, especially those that depended on transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ) signalling. Indeed, increased levels of active TGFβ1 were found in the medium after co-culture of Ep5 or MC38GFP tumour cells with platelets, and the activation of the TGFβ effector SMAD2, and SMAD-dependent transcription, were both increased in the tumour cells.

platelet-mediated TGFβ1 and NF-κB signalling in circulating tumour cells can promote metastasis

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Labelle, M., Begum, S. & Hynes, R. O. Direct signaling between platelets and cancer cells induces an epithelial-mesenchymal-like transition and promotes metastasis. Cancer Cell 20, 576–590 (2011)

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  1. Sarah Seton-Rogers
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Seton-Rogers, S. Signalling in transit. Nat Rev Cancer 12, 5 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3193

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