Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Dec 5;146(23):dev172056.
doi: 10.1242/dev.172056.

Cell interactions in collective cell migration

Abhinava K Mishra  1 , Joseph P Campanale  1 , James A Mondo  1 , Denise J Montell  2
Affiliations
Review

Cell interactions in collective cell migration

Abhinava K Mishra et al. Development. .

Abstract

Collective cell migration is the coordinated movement of a physically connected group of cells and is a prominent driver of development and metastasis. Interactions between cells within migrating collectives, and between migrating cells and other cells in the environment, play key roles in stimulating motility, steering and sometimes promoting cell survival. Similarly, diverse heterotypic interactions and collective behaviors likely contribute to tumor metastasis. Here, we describe a sampling of cells that migrate collectively in vivo, including well-established and newer examples. We focus on the under-appreciated property that many - perhaps most - collectively migrating cells move as cooperating groups of distinct cell types.

Keywords: Cell migration; Chemotaxis; Contact activation of locomotion; Contact inhibition; Heterotypic cell adhesion; Homotypic cell adhesion; Metastasis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing or financial interests.

References

    1. Aceto N., Bardia A., Miyamoto D. T., Donaldson M. C., Wittner B. S., Spencer J. A., Yu M., Pely A., Engstrom A., Zhu H. et al. (2014). Circulating tumor cell clusters are oligoclonal precursors of breast cancer metastasis. Cell 158, 1110-1122. 10.1016/j.cell.2014.07.013 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Adams R. H. and Eichmann A. (2010). Axon guidance molecules in vascular patterning. Cold Spring Harb. Perspect. Biol. 2, a001875 10.1101/cshperspect.a001875 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ashton N. (1966). Oxygen and the growth and development of retinal vessels. In vivo and in vitro studies. The XX Francis I. Proctor Lecture. Am. J. Ophthalmol. 62, 412-435. 10.1016/0002-9394(66)91322-5 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ausprunk D. H. and Folkman J. (1977). Migration and proliferation of endothelial cells in preformed and newly formed blood vessels during tumor angiogenesis. Microvasc. Res. 14, 53-65. 10.1016/0026-2862(77)90141-8 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bae Y.-K., Trisnadi N., Kadam S. and Stathopoulos A. (2012). The role of FGF signaling in guiding coordinate movement of cell groups: guidance cue and cell adhesion regulator? Cell Adh. Migr. 6, 397-403. 10.4161/cam.21103 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types