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Trespassing cancer cells: 'fingerprinting' invasive protrusions reveals metastatic culprits

Richard L Klemke1

  • 1Department of Pathology and Moores Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0612, United States. rklemke@ucsd.edu

Current Opinion in Cell Biology
|September 18, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Metastatic cancer cells use invasive membrane structures called invadopodia and pseudopodia to spread. Spatial

Area of Science:

  • Cell Biology
  • Cancer Research
  • Molecular Biology

Background:

  • Metastatic cancer cells utilize invasive membrane protrusions, invadopodia and pseudopodia, for dissemination.
  • These structures facilitate cancer cell attachment, extracellular matrix degradation, locomotion, and vascular penetration.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To highlight how spatial 'omics' approaches reveal signaling networks controlling invasive membrane protrusions.
  • To identify signatures of metastatic cancer cells and potential therapeutic targets.

Main Methods:

  • Subcellular fractionation methodologies.
  • Spatial genomic, proteomic, and phosphoproteomic profiling.

Main Results:

  • Spatial 'omics' provide insights into invadopodiome and pseudopodiome signaling networks.
  • Identification of key molecular players controlling invasive membrane protrusion.

Conclusions:

  • Spatial 'omics' approaches are powerful tools for understanding cancer metastasis.
  • These methods reveal critical signatures of metastatic cancer cells, offering new therapeutic avenues.

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