Cell Migration

Abstract

Cell migration is a pivotal event during morphogenesis, homeostasis, and disease. Cells can migrate individually or collectively to adapt to their microenvironment and acquire specific migratory modes, for example, mesenchymal, amoeboid, etc. Each migratory mode exhibits different characteristics that endow cells with unique abilities to migrate efficiently through tissues. The ability of a given cell to display a specific migratory mode, or switch among them, is the result of its genetic background and the integration of a wide network of extracellular and intracellular signals that reorganize the plasma membrane and the motile apparatus, i.e., the actin cytoskeleton and the adhesion molecules. Finely tuned migratory events comprise the initial stages of embryo development and organogenesis, and underlie homeostasis, for example, wound healing and the inflammatory response. Pathologic conditions ensue when these carefully orchestrated events are out of tune. Migratory deregulation results in misplaced cells that execute abnormal functions in a foreign microenvironment, for example, leukocyte-mediated tissue damage in autoimmune disease and primary tumor dissemination (metastasis) in cancer. Conversely, strategies aimed at promoting cell migration have the potential to overcome the lack of adaptation of grafted cells to the new microenvironment, for example, during regenerative therapy, that causes migratory defects and overall therapeutic failure.