Tissue architectural cues drive organ targeting of human tumor cells in zebrafish

ABSTRACTSites of metastasis are non-random, with certain types of cancers showing organ preference during distal colonization. Using multiple brain- and bone marrow-seeking human and murine breast cancer subclones, we determined that tumor cells that home to specific murine organs (brain and bone marrow) ultimately colonized analogous tissues (brain and caudal vein plexus [CVP]) in larval zebrafish. We then exploited the zebrafish model to delineate factors leading to differential cell homing and extravasation. Bone marrow-tropic clones showed higher expression of integrins and focal adhesions associated with mechanosensing machinery than brain-tropic clones and were more sensitive to vessel topography during extravasation. Knockdown of β1 integrin reduced extravasation and redistributed organ targeting from disordered vessels in the CVP to the brain. Our results show that organ selectivity is driven by topography- and cell type-dependent extravasation at the tumor-endothelial interface in the larval zebrafish and provide important insights into the early stages of metastasis.

Molecular Mechanisms of Tumor Cell Survival, Growth, and Apoptosis During Organ-Specific Metastasis

Metastasis is a highly selective nonrandom process favoring the survival of minor subpopulations of metatastatic cells that preexist within the primary tumor. The cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate the metastasis of tumor cells to specific organs are diverse and both tumor and organ-specific (1). Many examples exist in which malignant tumors metastasize to specific organs. As Paget proposed in 1889 (2), and as our recent biological and molecular evidence demonstrates, the organ microenvironment influences the invasion, survival, growth, and apoptosis of particular tumor cells. This hypothesis explains metastatic colonization patterns that cannot be due to solely mechanical lodgement/anatomical considerations (1). Successful metastasis therefore involves the interaction of tumor cells with a compatible milieu provided by a particular organ environment.Recent experimental evidence suggests that paracrine stimulation of tumor cells by organ-derived growth factors and cytokines is one mechanism which determines the target organ preference of disseminated cancer cells.