Plasticity Enables Cooperation among Heterogeneous Cancer Cell Populations to Support Metastatic Fitness
- 16 May 2022
- journal article
- editorial
- Published by American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Cancer Research
- Vol. 82 (10), 1870-1871
- https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.can-22-0819
Abstract
The invasive progression of cancer known as metastasis remains strongly associated with morbidity and lethality. New meaningful therapeutic interventions could be derived from a better understanding of the underlying processes driving cancer cell seeding and proliferation at secondary sites. Emerging findings regarding the heterogeneity of cancer cells observed in metastases have led us to revisit concepts surrounding metastatic fitness. Novel model systems to study the markers of cancer stem cell plasticity and their evolution during metastatic growth have uncovered that dynamic and heterogeneous cancer cell populations are observed during metastatic disease progression. Heinz and colleagues studied the heterogeneity of colorectal carcinomas, where primary tumors evolve alongside an epithelium well characterized for its self-renewing stem cell population. Their work revealed a functional dynamic interplay in the organization of the metastatic lesions as they transition from stagnating to expanding nodules, wherein the heterogeneous mixture of cancer cell stem cells with more differentiated cancer cells is essential for metastatic outgrowth. Their work supports that dynamic YAP signaling enables the growth-permissive heterogeneous composition of the metastatic nodule, in contrast with growth-restricted homogeneous compositions. See related article by Heinz et al., p. 1953This publication has 10 references indexed in Scilit:
- Liver Colonization by Colorectal Cancer Metastases Requires YAP-Controlled Plasticity at the Micrometastatic StageCancer Research, 2022
- Intestinal stem cell dynamics in homeostasis and cancerTrends in Cancer, 2022
- Metastatic heterogeneity of the consensus molecular subtypes of colorectal cancernpj Genomic Medicine, 2021
- Context-dependent roles of YAP/TAZ in stem cell fates and cancerCellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 2021
- Plasticity of Lgr5-Negative Cancer Cells Drives Metastasis in Colorectal CancerCell Stem Cell, 2020
- Intratumoral Heterogeneity: More Than Just MutationsTrends in Cell Biology, 2019
- Genetic insights into the morass of metastatic heterogeneityNature Reviews Cancer, 2018
- YAP/TAZ-Dependent Reprogramming of Colonic Epithelium Links ECM Remodeling to Tissue RegenerationCell Stem Cell, 2018
- Metastatic colonization by circulating tumour cellsNature, 2016
- Origins of Metastatic TraitsCancer Cell, 2013