Cancer Cells Coordinate to Form Roving Clusters (IMAGE)

Rice University

Cancer Cells Coordinate to Form Roving Clusters

Caption

Epithelial cells normally become mesenchymal cells under the influence of a notch-signaling protein called delta, but they can become hybrid epithelial-mesenchymal cells under the influence of jagged proteins when the signaling system is hijacked by cancer, according to Rice University researchers. These hybrid cells can communicate with each other, cluster and metastasize to other parts of the body.

Credit

Illustration by Marcelo Boareto

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