British researchers have offered a radical new view of how cancers metastasise by getting into the vascular and lymphatic systems.
Researchers at Birmingham University published the findings of the international project last night.
It also involved the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, and the University of Zaragoza, Spain.
Their conclusion is that cells benefit from "opportunism" to find gaps in endothelial cells.
It has previously been thought that cancer cells use chemical signalling to force open gaps in the endothelium.
The new results emerged from laboratory and mathematical studies of the endothelium. They were reported in PLOS Computational Biology.
The analysis highlighted the stresses faced by endothelial cells, suggesting that gaps opens and closed spontaneously as a result.
Gaps were most likely to occur at junctions of three or more cells, they found.
Lead researcher Dr Fabian Spill, from Birmingham, said: “The gaps in the endothelium open and close spontaneously – whether cancer cells are present or not.
“They are caused by an interplay between mechanics and chemistry exerting different forces on the cells. Much work has already been done to characterise the chemistry of the endothelium – our work complements this research, focusing on the mechanical forces at work in these processes.”
Spill et al. Balance of Mechanical Forces Drives Endothelial Gap Formation and May Facilitate Cancer and Immune-Cell Extravasation. PLOS Computational Biology 2 May 2019.
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