Visualization of the Rearrangement of Cell-Cell junctions in Metastatic Cells

Cancer is a collection of disorders where the body's cells rapidly divide and metastasize. Cancerous cells disengage from neighboring cells, change shape and have increased mobility due to actin remodeling which ultimately leads to additional tissue invasion. Actin filaments are a underlying component of cell: cell junctions (adherens junctions), securing the membranes of neighboring cells to allow for the integrated structure of tissues. Actin is regulated by a large group of accessory proteins including actin capping protein (CP). The focus of my research was to characterize the disengagement of cancerous cells by analyzing the cell: cell junctions of metastatic cells. Using CP as a marker, I sought to characterize the regulation of actin organization in focal adhesions. I generated a clone which consists of a fusion protein of CP and a fluorescent marker and introduced the construct into a living metastatic cell. Cells that incorporated the fusion protein were visualized for the fluorescent marker via advanced fluorescent microscopy. Fluorescent microscopic analysis revealed an irregular appearance and distribution of CP near adherence junctions of metastatic cells, indicating that CP does play a role in the reorganization of adherence junctions in metastatic cells.