Metastasis of Pancreatic Cancer in Action (IMAGE)

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Metastasis of Pancreatic Cancer in Action

Caption

Pancreatic cells spread by blending in. The left panel shows an inflammed pancreatic duct surrounded by what appear to be fibroblasts (blue arrow). Lineage tagging allowed the researchers to see that some of these fibroblast-like cells are actually invading pancreatic epithelial cells in disguise (left panel, white arrow). Such cells have undergone a process of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and are able to enter the bloodstream.

Credit

Andrew Rhim, PhD, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; Cell Press

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