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Intravital imaging tumor screen used to identify novel metastasis-blocking therapeutic targets

Konstantin Stoletov1, Lian Willetts1, Perrin H Beatty1

  • 1Department of Oncology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2E1.

Cell Stress
|June 22, 2019
PubMed

Insights

Researchers developed a new imaging platform to study cancer cell metastasis in real-time. This approach identified novel genes crucial for cancer cell motility and blocking them halted metastasis.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Cell Biology
  • Biotechnology

Background:

  • Cancer cell motility is a critical factor in metastasis, the primary cause of cancer-related mortality.
  • Current therapies do not target genes essential for cell motility due to limitations in visualizing metastasis in vivo.
  • There is a need for advanced in vivo models that allow real-time imaging of cancer cell motility and metastasis.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop a novel in vivo screening platform for identifying genes associated with cancer cell motility.
  • To apply this platform to discover new therapeutic targets for blocking cancer metastasis.

Main Methods:

  • Developed a quantitative in vivo screening platform using intravital imaging in shell-less ex ovo chick embryos.
  • Screened a human genome-wide short hairpin RNA library against highly motile head and neck cancer cells (HEp3) in the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM).

Main Results:

  • Identified multiple novel genes associated with in vivo cancer cell motility.
  • Inhibiting the expression of identified genes in HEp3 tumors resulted in a near-complete blockage of spontaneous cancer metastasis.

Conclusions:

  • The developed chick embryo model provides a powerful tool for real-time imaging and screening of cancer cell motility in vivo.
  • The identified genes represent promising novel therapeutic targets for preventing cancer metastasis.
Keywords:
ex ovo chick embryo modelfluorescence time-lapse intravital imaginghigh throughput sequencingintravasationmetastaticc cancershRNA librarytherapeutic targets

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