Plasticity of Lgr5-Negative Cancer Cells Drives Metastasis in Colorectal Cancer
CELL STEM CELL(2020)
Abstract
Colorectal cancer stem cells (CSCs) express Lgr5 and display extensive stem cell-like multipotency and self-renewal and are thought to seed metastatic disease. Here, we used a mouse model of colorectal cancer (CRC) and human tumor xenografts to investigate the cell of origin of metastases. We found that most disseminated CRC cells in circulation were Lgr5(-) and formed distant metastases in which Lgr5(+) CSCs appeared. This plasticity occurred independently of stemness-inducing microenviron-mental factors and was indispensable for outgrowth, but not establishment, of metastases. Together, these findings show that most colorectal cancer metastases are seeded by Lgr5(-) cells, which display intrinsic capacity to become CSCs in a niche-independent manner and can restore epithelial hierarchies in metastatic tumors.
MoreTranslated text
AI Read Science
Must-Reading Tree
Example
![](https://originalfileserver.aminer.cn/sys/aminer/pubs/mrt_preview.jpeg)
Generate MRT to find the research sequence of this paper
Chat Paper
Summary is being generated by the instructions you defined