A Genome-Wide Screen in Mice To Identify Cell-Extrinsic Regulators of Pulmonary Metastatic Colonisation

Metastatic colonization, whereby a disseminated tumor cell is able to survive and proliferate at a secondary site, involves both tumor cell-intrinsic and -extrinsic factors. To identify tumor cell-extrinsic (microenvironmental) factors that regulate the ability of metastatic tumor cells to effectively colonize a tissue, we performed a genome-wide screen utilizing the experimental metastasis assay on mutant mice. Mutant and wildtype (control) mice were tail vein-dosed with murine metastatic melanoma B16-F10 cells and 10 days later the number of pulmonary metastatic colonies were counted. Of the 1,300 genes/genetic locations (1,344 alleles) assessed in the screen 34 genes were determined to significantly regulate pulmonary metastatic colonization (15 increased and 19 decreased; < 0.005 and genotype effect <-55 or >+55). While several of these genes have known roles in immune system regulation (, , , , , , , , , , and ) most are involved in a disparate range of biological processes, ranging from ubiquitination () to diphthamide synthesis () to Rho GTPase-activation ( and ), with no previous reports of a role in the regulation of metastasis. Thus, we have identified numerous novel regulators of pulmonary metastatic colonization, which may represent potential therapeutic targets.