The role of cancer cell motility in invasion

Autor: Gisela Haemmerli, Peter Sträuli
Rok vydání: 1984
Předmět:
Zdroj: CANCER AND METASTASIS REVIEW. 3:127-141
ISSN: 1573-7233
0167-7659
DOI: 10.1007/bf00047660
Popis: Before discussing the role of cell motility during the process of tumor cell penetration into adjacent host tissues, it seems appropriate to briefly present what is known about cellular motility in general. In its broadest sense, motility is a distinct cellular activity resulting in morphologically recognizable changes which, in a scale of increasing participation, involve (a) the cell surface alone, (b) the cell surface plus cell shape, (c) the cell surface plus cell shape plus cell position. An example of cell motility restricted to the surface are the protrusion and retraction of cytoplasmic extensions of various configurations and sizes: villi, blebs, spikes, ridges. Surface motility is the most frequent mode of cell movement. During their lifespan, cells are constantly engaged in this form of activity which serves such purposes as endoor exocytosis among others. Coupled with morphological alterations of the surface architecture are changes of cell shape. If a cell transforms its configuration from spherical to flattened, as occurs under in vitro conditions, pseudoor filopodia extend from the surface, make contact with, and establish attachment to the substrate. The overall shape of tissue-integrated cells remains more or less unchanged, and only during mitosis a transient alteration of configuration takes place. Finally, changes of cell position, consisting in the net translocation of the whole cell, are always accompanied by alterations of surface and shape. In the usual life of most tissue cells, shifts in cell position do not occur. Special conditions, as those existing during wound healing, can induce short-range excursions of various mesenchymal and epithelial cells that otherwise would remain stabilized. Regular translocation in the adult body is only performed by the professional migrators, the leukocytes. Within the context of this chapter, remarks on positional shifts exclusively refer to active cell movements. Translocative motility is completely different from the passive transport by body fluids or by a 'trottoir roulant-mechanism' under proliferation pressure, as occurs in mucous membrane epithelia. It is therefore advisable to use different terms for locomotion and for situations allowing cells to be carried away. 'Mobility' was suggested for designating the latter condition (1). However, there are situations in which cells express mobility and motility under the same circumstances. In the blood stream for instance, leukocytes and, possibly, cancer cells are passively transported, but they can also crawl along the inner surface of the vessel wall. The transition from positional stability to translocation can be of crucial importance for various
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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