Cell migration in multicell spheroids: swimming against the tide

Abstract

Multicell spheroids, small spherical clusters of cancer cells, have become an important in vitro model for studying tumour development given the diffusion limited geometry associated with many solid tumour growths. Spheroids expand until they reach a dormant state where they exhibit a grossly static three-layered structure. However, at a cellular level, the spheroid is demonstrably dynamic with constituent cells migrating from the outer well-nourished region of the spheroid toward the necrotic central core. The mechanism that drives the migrating cells in the spheroid is not well understood. In this paper we demonstrate that recent experiments on internationalization can be adequately described by implicating pressure gradients caused by differential cell proliferation and cell death as the primary mechanism. Although chemotaxis plays a role in cell movement, we argue that it acts against the passive movement caused by pressure differences.