Open Access

ARTICLE

LIM1863 is useful to explore collective cancer cell migration, and the group of heterogeneous cells undergoing collective migration behaves like a supracellular unit

JINSONG WU^1,2, ZHENG ZHI¹, WENZHONG XU¹, DIANCGENG LI¹, QIUBO LI¹, YAN HAN¹, JIANMING HE^1,3,*, XI LIANG^1,*

1 Department of Radiotherapy, Hebei Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Hebei University of Chinese Medicine, Shijiazhuang, China
2 Department of General Surgery, Chongqing General Hospital, Chongqing, China
3 Key Laboratory of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine for Gastroenterology Research (Hebei), Shijiazhuang, China

* Corresponding Authors: JIANMING HE. Email: ; XI LIANG. Email:

BIOCELL 2023, 47(12), 2671-2680. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2023.043494

Received 04 July 2023; Accepted 26 September 2023; Issue published 27 December 2023

Abstract

Introduction: Collective cancer cell migration (CCCM) and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) play key roles in metastasis. This study reports that the colorectal carcinoma cell line LIM1863 is useful for the study of CCCM and EMT. Methods: Hematoxylin and eosin staining, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and western blot analysis were performed. Results: LIM1863 automatically grew as spheroids in suspension and had important typical epithelial properties, including several layers of cells arranged around a central lumen, apical-basal polarity, and types of cell-cell junctions. Treatment with a combination of both TGF beta 1 and TNF alpha induced definite and distinct EMT, a spheroid changing phenotype to form a monolayer high-confluent patch without lumen, without polarity. Spontaneous CCCM occurred in spheroids. Flat EMT cells adhered to the base of a dish, exhibited persistent movement as a cluster of cells, and then shed, resulting in a cluster. All cells from one cluster undergoing CCCM died. Otherwise, all cells undergoing EMT disappeared and almost all cells located in the cell reservoir survived and proliferated. Conclusion: LIM1863 is an excellent cell line to study CCCM and EMT. The group of heterogeneous cells undergoing CCCM behaves like a supracellular unit.

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Keywords

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