Back

Cell viscosity influences hematogenous dissemination and metastatic extravasation of tumor cells

Gensbittel, V.; Follain, G.; Bochler, L.; Uhlmann, K.; Lefebvre, O.; Larnicol, A.; Harlepp, S.; Goswami, R.; Girardo, S.; Hyenne, V.; Mittelheisser, V.; Krater, M.; Balzani, D.; Guck, J.; Osmani, N.; Goetz, J. G.

2024-03-30 cancer biology
10.1101/2024.03.28.587171 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Metastases arise from a multi-step process during which tumor cells change their mechanics in response to microenvironmental cues. While such mechanical adaptability could influence metastatic success, how tumor cell mechanics directly impacts intravascular behavior of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) remains poorly understood. In the present study, we demonstrate how the deformability of CTCs affects hematogenous dissemination and identify the mechanical profiles that favor metastatic extravasation. Combining intravital microscopy with CTC-mimicking elastic beads and mechanically-tuned tumor cells, we demonstrate that the inherent properties of circulating objects dictate their ability to enter constraining vessels. We identify cellular viscosity as the key property that governs CTC circulation and arrest patterns. We further demonstrate that cellular viscosity is required for efficient extravasation and find that properties that favor extravasation and subsequent metastatic outgrowth can be opposite. Altogether, we identify CTC viscosity as a key biomechanical parameter that shapes several steps of metastasis.

Matching journals

The top 6 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.

50% of probability mass above

"Similar papers" are the closest papers from that journal in the model's embedding space. They show what the match is built on, but the ranking comes mostly from a classifier over the whole training set, not from these examples alone.