EMT and Dissemination Precede Pancreatic Tumor Formation

Overview

Journal Cell

Publisher Cell Press

Specialty Cell Biology

Date 2012 Jan 24

PMID 22265420

Citations 1153

Authors

Andrew D Rhim

Emily T Mirek

Nicole M Aiello

Anirban Maitra

Jennifer M Bailey

Florencia McAllister

Maximilian Reichert

Gregory L Beatty

Anil K Rustgi

Robert H Vonderheide

Steven D Leach

Ben Z Stanger

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Metastasis is the leading cause of cancer-associated death but has been difficult to study because it involves a series of rare, stochastic events. To capture these events, we developed a sensitive method to tag and track pancreatic epithelial cells in a mouse model of pancreatic cancer. Tagged cells invaded and entered the bloodstream unexpectedly early, before frank malignancy could be detected by rigorous histologic analysis; this behavior was widely associated with epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Circulating pancreatic cells maintained a mesenchymal phenotype, exhibited stem cell properties, and seeded the liver. EMT and invasiveness were most abundant at inflammatory foci, and induction of pancreatitis increased the number of circulating pancreatic cells. Conversely, treatment with the immunosuppressive agent dexamethasone abolished dissemination. These results provide insight into the earliest events of cellular invasion in situ and suggest that inflammation enhances cancer progression in part by facilitating EMT and entry into the circulation.

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