title: Minimization of thermodynamic costs in cancer cell invasion.
abstract: Metastasis, the truly lethal aspect of cancer, occurs when metastatic cancer cells in a tumor break through the basement membrane and penetrate the extracellular matrix. We show that MDA-MB-231 metastatic breast cancer cells cooperatively invade a 3D collagen matrix while following a glucose gradient. The invasion front of the cells is a dynamic one, with different cells assuming the lead on a time scale of 70 h. The front cell leadership is dynamic presumably because of metabolic costs associated with a long-range strain field that precedes the invading cell front, which we have imaged using confocal imaging and marker beads imbedded in the collagen matrix. We suggest this could be a quantitative assay for an invasive phenotype tracking a glucose gradient and show that the invading cells act in a cooperative manner by exchanging leaders in the invading front.
authors: Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics,  Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100864,  China.
authors: Liyu
authors: L
authors: Liu
authors: Guillaume
authors: G
authors: Duclos
authors: Bo
authors: B
authors: Sun
authors: Jeongseog
authors: J
authors: Lee
authors: Amy
authors: A
authors: Wu
authors: Yoonseok
authors: Y
authors: Kam
authors: Eduardo D
authors: ED
authors: Sontag
authors: Howard A
authors: HA
authors: Stone
authors: James C
authors: JC
authors: Sturm
authors: Robert A
authors: RA
authors: Gatenby
authors: Robert H
authors: RH
authors: Austin
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement; D002633:Chemotaxis; D003094:Collagen / Q000378:metabolism*; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D061986:MCF-7 Cells; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D013816:Thermodynamics; D013997:Time Factors; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment
chemical_list: D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D003094:Collagen; D005947:Glucose