Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
11
Chemotaxis of Cancer
Cells during Invasion
and Metastasis
John Condeelis, Xiaoyan Song, Jonathan M. Backer,
Jeffrey Wyckoff
and
Jeffrey Segall
Amoeboid chemotaxis is a basic property of cells engaged in embryogenesis,
inflammation, epithelial remodelling and growth, wound healing, angiogenesis
and tumour metastasis. The mechanisms used by crawling cells for chemotaxis
are just beginning to be explored at the molecular level (Wells et al., 1999;
Comer and Parent, 2002; Bailly et al., 2001). Chemotaxis is probably a general
property of metastatic cells. A complete understanding of chemotaxis will
have far-reaching effects on the treatment of invasive carcinomas by impacting
the development of the next generation of cytostatic chemotherapy agents
directed against invasive cell motility. In this chapter we consider the earliest
events in actin polymerization-based leading edge assembly and how they
define the initial asymmetry that is required for chemotaxis of carcinoma cells
to EGF.
Chemotaxis to EGF
EGF, acting through the tyrosine kinase receptor family of erbB1-4, is a major
growth factor for epithelia in mammals. The level of expression of EGF and
