Lévy-like movement patterns of metastatic cancer cells revealed in microfabricated systems and implicated in vivo

Sabil Huda, Bettina Weigelin, Katarina Wolf, Konstantin V. Tretiakov, Konstantin Polev, Gary Wilk, Masatomo Iwasa, Fateme S. Emami, Jakub W. Narojczyk, Michal Banaszak, Siowling Soh, Didzis Pilans, Amir Vahid, Monika Makurath, Peter Friedl, Gary G. Borisy, Kristiana Kandere-Grzybowska () and Bartosz A. Grzybowski ()
Additional contact information
Sabil Huda: Northwestern University
Bettina Weigelin: Radboud University Medical Centre
Katarina Wolf: Radboud University Medical Centre
Konstantin V. Tretiakov: Polish Academy of Sciences
Konstantin Polev: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Gary Wilk: Northwestern University
Masatomo Iwasa: Aichi Institute of Technology
Fateme S. Emami: Northwestern University
Jakub W. Narojczyk: Polish Academy of Sciences
Michal Banaszak: Adam Mickiewicz University
Siowling Soh: Northwestern University
Didzis Pilans: Northwestern University
Amir Vahid: Northwestern University
Monika Makurath: Northwestern University
Peter Friedl: Radboud University Medical Centre
Gary G. Borisy: The Forsyth Institute
Kristiana Kandere-Grzybowska: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Bartosz A. Grzybowski: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Metastatic cancer cells differ from their non-metastatic counterparts not only in terms of molecular composition and genetics, but also by the very strategy they employ for locomotion. Here, we analyzed large-scale statistics for cells migrating on linear microtracks to show that metastatic cancer cells follow a qualitatively different movement strategy than their non-invasive counterparts. The trajectories of metastatic cells display clusters of small steps that are interspersed with long “flights”. Such movements are characterized by heavy-tailed, truncated power law distributions of persistence times and are consistent with the Lévy walks that are also often employed by animal predators searching for scarce prey or food sources. In contrast, non-metastatic cancerous cells perform simple diffusive movements. These findings are supported by preliminary experiments with cancer cells migrating away from primary tumors in vivo. The use of chemical inhibitors targeting actin-binding proteins allows for “reprogramming” the Lévy walks into either diffusive or ballistic movements.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06563-w

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