近日，英国弗朗西斯克里克研究所Ilaria Malanchi和剑桥大学Joo-Hyeon Lee课题组合作提出新的细胞特征鉴定系统，并利用该系统鉴定了转移生态位标记的具有干细胞特征的实质细胞。相关论文发表在2019年8月29日出版的《自然》上。

他们提出了一种系统，在此系统中转移性癌细胞释放一种能够穿透细胞的荧光蛋白，这种荧光蛋白被相邻细胞吸收后能够加快对局部转移细胞环境的空间上的鉴定。使用该系统，可以在大块组织内鉴定和表征在转移性生态位中低活性的组织细胞。为了突出其潜力，他们应用该策略来研究肺中转移性乳腺癌细胞的细胞环境。他们报道了癌症相关实质细胞的存在，这些细胞表现出干细胞样特征并表达肺祖细胞标志物，以及具有多谱系分化潜能和自我更新活性。在离体实验中，肺上皮细胞在与癌细胞共培养并支持其生长时获得与癌相关的实质细胞样表型。这些结果突出了该方法作为新发现平台的潜力。

研究人员表示，直接在周围的组织内部研究由转移性细胞诱导的早期细胞变化仍然是一个挑战。

附：英文原文

Title: Metastatic-niche labelling reveals parenchymal cells with stem features

Author: Luigi Ombrato, Emma Nolan, Ivana Kurelac, Antranik Mavousian, Victoria Louise Bridgeman, Ivonne Heinze, Probir Chakravarty, Stuart Horswell, Estela Gonzalez-Gualda, Giulia Matacchione, Anne Weston, Joanna Kirkpatrick, Ehab Husain, Valerie Speirs, Lucy Collinson, Alessandro Ori, Joo-Hyeon Lee, Ilaria Malanchi

Issue&Volume: Volume 572 Issue 7771

Abstract: Direct investigation of the early cellular changes induced by metastatic cells within the surrounding tissue remains a challenge. Here we present a system in which metastatic cancer cells release a cell-penetrating fluorescent protein, which is taken up by neighbouring cells and enables spatial identification of the local metastatic cellular environment. Using this system, tissue cells with low representation in the metastatic niche can be identified and characterized within the bulk tissue. To highlight its potential, we applied this strategy to study the cellular environment of metastatic breast cancer cells in the lung. We report the presence of cancer-associated parenchymal cells, which exhibit stem-cell-like features, expression of lung progenitor markers, multi-lineage differentiation potential and self-renewal activity. In ex vivo assays, lung epithelial cells acquire a cancer-associated parenchymal-cell-like phenotype when co-cultured with cancer cells and support their growth. These results highlight the potential of this method as a platform for new discoveries.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1487-6

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1487-6