Lamellipodia Protrusion and Cell Migration 1

Lamellipodia Protrusion and Cell Migration 1

Guillaume Carmona

MIT Department of Biology, Koch Institute at MIT

This picture shows a metastatic cancer cell. This cell has been stimulated with a growth factor that activates a signaling pathway leading to lamellipodia protrusion (the protrusion of the cell membrane at the front of the cell is one of the first step in cell motility). The actin cytoskeleton (a critical component of the skeleton of the cell that drive cell migration) is labeled in blue, the Arp2/3 complex, an actin-regulatory complex is labeled in red and Lamellipodin, an actin-regulatory protein, is labeled in green. We are trying to understanding the mechanisms that allow a cancer cell to migrate, invade and metastasize, which is a fundamental problem in the development of effective cures against metastatic carcinomas.

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