Research
Invasion III: Muscle Remodeling
The final stage before metastasis is muscle invasion of the pseudo-capsule surrounding the human prostate organ (not present in mouse models) and CCN1/CYR61 is a known marker of muscle remodeling. The image to the right shows cohesive tumor clusters in a PCa biopsy. Invasion into and through the smooth muscle (desmin, red) occurs as PCa cells arrange themselves in clusters that maintain their cell-cell interactions (E-Cadherin, green; DAPI, DNA, blue).
Cancers in organs that are bounded by muscle, like the bladder, prostate, stomach, and colon can progress to lethal metastatic disease. Tumors invade smooth muscle using cell clusters that navigate biophysical barriers. Understanding interactions between tumor cells, smooth muscle, and proximal pro-inflammatory triggers could help prevent early invasion and metastasis.
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Harryman WL, Marr KD, Hernandez-Cortes D, Nagle RB, Garcia JGN, Cress AE. Cohesive cancer invasion of the biophysical barrier of smooth muscle. Cancer Metastasis Rev. 2021 Mar;40(1):205-219. doi: 10.1007/s10555-020-09950-2. Epub 2021 Jan 4. PMID: 33398621; PMCID: PMC8189031.
