Moving in and Out: Dispersion of Cells in Self-Generated Gradients

Migrating cells can influence the direction of their own migration by metabolizing chemoattractants present in their environment. This is illustrated by the dispersal of melanoma cells, which break down lysophosphatidic acid and generate a gradient with increasing concentrations of lysophosphatidic acid distant from the tumor. Melanoma cells can then disperse away from the tumor as they migrate in the self-generated lysophosphatidic acid gradient. Thus, dispersal of tumor cells during invasion of the surrounding stroma might be driven by chemotaxis of cells along self-generated chemoattractant gradients.