Wnt/PCP Signaling Contribution to Carcinoma Collective Cell Migration and Metastasis Kacey Vandervorst1, Courtney A
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Published OnlineFirst April 5, 2019; DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-18-2757 Cancer Review Research Wnt/PCP Signaling Contribution to Carcinoma Collective Cell Migration and Metastasis Kacey VanderVorst1, Courtney A. Dreyer1, Sara E. Konopelski2, Hyun Lee1, Hsin-Yi Henry Ho2, and Kermit L. Carraway III1 Abstract Our understanding of the cellular mechanisms governing discerned. Wnt/PCP (planar cell polarity) signaling, one of carcinoma invasiveness and metastasis has evolved dramati- the noncanonical Wnt signaling pathways, mediates collective cally over the last several years. The previous emphasis on the migratory events such as convergent extension during devel- epithelial–mesenchymal transition as a driver of the migratory opmental processes. Wnt/PCP signaling components are fre- properties of single cells has expanded with the observation quently dysregulated in solid tumors, and aberrant pathway that carcinoma cells often invade and migrate collectively as activation contributes to tumor cell migratory properties. Here adherent groups. Moreover, recent analyses suggest that cir- we summarize key studies that address the mechanisms by culating tumor cells within the vasculature often exist as which Wnt/PCP signaling mediate collective cell migration in multicellular clusters and that clusters more efficiently seed developmental and tumor contexts. We emphasize Wnt/PCP metastatic lesions than single circulating tumor cells. While component localization within migrating cells and discuss these observations point to a key role for collective cell how component asymmetry may govern the spatiotemporal migration in carcinoma metastasis, the molecular mechan- control of downstream cytoskeletal effectors to promote isms driving collective tumor cell migration remain to be collective cell motility. Introduction properties of the surrounding environment (haptotaxis or dur- otaxis; refs. 11, 12). These stimuli engage diverse intracellular Metastasis is a complex, multistep process whereby cancer cells signaling pathways that instruct motility-associated cytoskeletal invade into surrounding tissues, access and traverse the vascula- dynamics. Migratory modes may be classified into two major ture, disseminate throughout the body, and survive and prolif- subtypes: single cell migration and collective cell migration, erate at secondary sites to colonize distant metastatic lesions (1). where multiple adherent cells move as a coordinated single unit Although the molecular underpinnings of primary tumor initia- in a sheet or cluster. Single cell migration has been the subject of tion and growth have been extensively explored, mechanisms extensive study in vitro and contributes to diverse cell motility governing metastatic behavior remain poorly understood. Failure events in vivo, including tissue morphogenesis during develop- to clinically address metastasis is a barrier to successful therapeutic ment (13), immune surveillance (14), and cancer metastasis (15). intervention, and is responsible for the majority of cancer-related Collective cell migration plays critical roles in many in vivo deaths (2). The initial steps of the metastatic cascade require biological processes including blood vessel formation (16), con- activation of pathways that promote cell migration, which are vergent extension (17), and branching morphogenesis (18). Accu- often distinct from the molecular programs regulating transfor- mulating evidence suggests that carcinoma invasiveness and mation and proliferation. Cancer cells aberrantly activate a mul- metastasis may rely at least in part on collective cell migra- titude of developmental migratory pathways, giving rise to inva- tion (19), contrasting with classic metastasis models that focus siveness, metastasis, and poor patient survival (3). on epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) in single tumor Cell migration is a finely regulated, fundamental biological cells as the primary initiator of dissemination. Indeed, recent process critical to tissue rearrangement events from developmen- observations suggest that metastatic lesions may be largely seeded tal morphogenesis to wound healing. Migration can occur in by polyclonal groups, although single cell seeding may represent response to a variety of stimulants, such as chemokines and only a fraction of metastatic colonization events (20–23). A better growth factors (a process known as chemotaxis; refs. 4–7), cur- understanding of cell signaling pathways that govern collective rents and electric fields (galvanotaxis; refs. 8–10), and the physical cell migration may thus identify novel therapeutic targets in patients with aggressive and late-stage disease. Migration is often directed by gradients of environmental 1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, UC Davis Comprehensive stimuli. Directional migration requires the establishment of cell Cancer Center, UC Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, California. 2Depart- polarity driven by the asymmetric localization of cellular com- ment of Cell Biology and Human Anatomy, UC Davis School of Medicine, Davis, ponents into specific domains, and breakdown of cellular polarity California. programs is associated with many developmental defects and Corresponding Author: Kermit L. Carraway III, University of California, Davis, disease states. Wnt/planar cell polarity (Wnt/PCP) signaling, a UCDMC- Research III Rm 1100B, 4645 2nd Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95817. branch of noncanonical Wnt signaling, is critical to the establish- Phone: 916-734-3114; E-mail: [email protected] ment and maintenance of polarity in epithelial tissues. Classically, doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-18-2757 Wnt/PCP signaling maintains cell polarization in the planar Ó2019 American Association for Cancer Research. axis across the surface of an epithelial sheet, orthogonal to the www.aacrjournals.org OF1 Downloaded from cancerres.aacrjournals.org on September 29, 2021. © 2019 American Association for Cancer Research. Published OnlineFirst April 5, 2019; DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-18-2757 VanderVorst et al. apical–basal axis. In this context, Wnt/PCP signaling relies upon and travel to distant tissues, suggesting that metastatic lesions the asymmetric distribution of core protein complexes within arise from the clonal outgrowth of single tumor cells (Fig. 1A; individual cells, and this asymmetry is propagated across the ref. 31). However, several recent studies have provided evidence tissue through intercellular protein-protein interactions (24). that metastases can be efficiently seeded by polyclonal cell clus- Wnt/PCP signaling is essential for both collective and single- ters (20–22) and that carcinoma cells invade almost exclusively in cell migration during embryonic development (25, 26). In both a collective manner (Fig. 1B; ref. 32). Importantly, Bronsert and static epithelial tissues and migrating cells, noncanonical Wnt colleagues demonstrated that cells at the invasive front rarely ligands provide global instructional cues necessary for proper exhibit mesenchymal morphology or expression of EMT mar- Wnt/PCP signaling (27–29). Importantly, core Wnt/PCP compo- kers (32). These studies together suggest that primary carcinoma nents are dysregulated in a variety of solid tumors and have invasion generally involves the collective migration of groups of been directly implicated in promoting tumor cell migration and cohesive cells into adjacent tissue rather than the dispersal of metastasis (30). individual carcinoma cells, leaving the necessity of EMT to met- astatic dissemination unclear (33). The Emerging Role of Collective Cell Collective migration and invasion have been most extensively studied in breast cancer, where analysis of both mouse and Migration in Metastatic Dissemination human samples suggest that clusters of primary tumor cells may Historically, the EMT program has been favored as the major significantly contribute to critical steps of metastatic dissemina- driver of carcinoma dissemination. In this model, individual tion. To better understand the role of collective invasion in primary tumor cells undergo EMT and acquire mesenchymal metastasis, Cheung and colleagues (34) developed an ex vivo characteristics that enable them to leave the primary tumor site 3D culture model and observed that tumor organoids derived AB Single cell Collective cell invasion invasion CTC clusters CTCs © 2019 American Association for Cancer Research Figure 1. Carcinoma cell metastatic dissemination is mediated by multimodal cell migration. A, In the single cell invasion model, individual primary tumor cells undergo EMT to acquire mesenchymal characteristics that enable them invade into the stroma, circulate in the vasculature as individual cells, and seed clonal metastatic lesions (31). B, In the collective cell invasion model, groups of cohesive cells invade into the stroma, circulate in the vasculature as clusters of cells, and seed polyclonal metastatic lesions (20–22, 32). OF2 Cancer Res; 79(8) April 15, 2019 Cancer Research Downloaded from cancerres.aacrjournals.org on September 29, 2021. © 2019 American Association for Cancer Research. Published OnlineFirst April 5, 2019; DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-18-2757 Wnt/PCP in Collective Cell Migration from several genetically engineered mouse models of mammary Collective Cell Migration carcinoma invade via the extension of multicellular strands of Migration is a multistep process that begins with cellular tumor cells into a collagen matrix. Importantly, tumor cells polarization in response to a migration-promoting stimulus,