Single cell analysis of mechanical properties and EMT-related gene expression profiles in cancer fingers

Heng Zou; Zihan Yang; Yuen-San Chan; Sung-king Au Yeung; Md Kowsar Alam; Tongxu Si; Tao Xu; Mengsu Yang

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.103917

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Detail(s)

Original language	English
Article number	103917
Journal / Publication	iScience
Volume	25
Issue number	3
Online published	12 Feb 2022
Publication status	Published - 18 Mar 2022

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DOI	DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.103917 Final Published version
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Attachment(s)	Documents 97584869.pdf Final Published version, 4.43 MB, PDF Publisher's Copyright Statement This full text is made available under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Link to Scopus	https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85126141884&origin=recordpage
Permanent Link	https://scholars.cityu.edu.hk/en/publications/publication(09252029-92dc-4033-941b-c1c8c80bbb32).html

Abstract

Collective cell migration is associated with cancer metastasis. Cancer fingers are formed when groups of migrating cancer cells follow the leader cells in the front. Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a critical process of cancer metastasis. However, the role of EMT in cancer finger formation remains unclear. In this work, we investigated the EMT-associated mechanical properties and gene expression at single-cell levels in non-small lung cancer fingers. We found that leader cells were more elastic and less sticky than follower cells. Spatial EMT-related gene expression profiling in cancer fingers revealed cellular heterogeneity. Particularly, SNAIL and VIM were found to be two key genes that positively correlated with leader cell phenotypes and controlled cancer finger formation. Silencing either SNAIL or VIM, decreased cancer cell elasticity, cancer finger formation and migration, and increased adhesiveness. These findings indicated that SNAIL and VIM are two driver genes for cancer finger formation.