TGFβ induces an atypical EMT to evade immune mechanosurveillance in lung adenocarcinoma dormant metastasis

Different forms of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) manifest during tumor progression. Little is known about the mechanistic basis and functional role of these distinct EMTs. We explored this question in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) primitive progenitors, which are competent to enter dormancy in response to transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ) upon metastatic dissemination. The TGFβ response in these cells includes growth arrest and a full EMT that subsequently transitions into an atypical mesenchymal state of round morphology and lacking actin stress fibers. TGFβ drives this transition by inducing expression of the actin depolymerizing protein gelsolin, which converts a migratory, stress-fiber-rich…

• FF
  Foundation for the National Institutes of Health

  Awards: R01-CA266068, P01-CA129243, R01-AI087644
• DR
  Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
• MS
  Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

  Award: P30-CA008748
• NC
  National Cancer Institute

  Award: T32 CA254875