Dormant metastases can lead to tumor relapse after many years by successfully escaping immune surveillance. A new study identifies an atypical epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition state that presents low stiffness mediated by actin depolymerization, which prevents immune cell-mediated killing of dormant metastatic lung adenocarcinoma.
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Acknowledgements
A.P.G. is supported by the ITN network EVOMET (955951). C.B. is supported by the WEL Research Institute, FNRS, TELEVIE, Fondation Contre le Cancer, the ULB Foundation, FNRS–FWO EOS (40007513) and European Research Council advanced grant TTTS (AdvGrant 885093).
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Pérez González, A., Blanpain, C. Cell stiffness regulates immune evasion during metastatic dormancy. Nat Cancer (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-025-01096-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-025-01096-w
