Determining whether observed eukaryotic cell migration indicates chemotactic responsiveness or random chemokinetic motion

Journal of Theoretical Biology
Alex C Szatmary, Ralph Nossal

Abstract

Chemotaxis, the motion of cells directed by a gradient of chemoattractant molecules, guides cells in immune response, development, wound healing, and cancer. Unfortunately, this process is difficult to distinguish from chemokinesis, i.e., stimulated random cell motion. Chemotaxis is frequently inferred by determining how many cells cross a boundary in a chemotaxis assay, for example how many cells crawl into a chemoattractant-infused filter, or how many cells enter a defined region in an under-agarose assay or agarose spot assay. To mitigate possible ambiguity in whether motion observed in these assays is directed by the chemoattractant gradient or by chemokinesis, we developed a mathematical model to determine when such methods indeed indicate directed motion of cells. In contrast to previous analyses of chemotaxis assays, we report not just the gradients that arise in the assays but also resulting cell motion. We applied the model to data obtained from rigorous measurements and show, as examples, that MDA-MB-231 breast-cancer cells are at least 20 times less sensitive to gradients of EGF or CXCL12 than neutrophils are to formyl peptides; we then used this information to determine the extent to which gradient sensing increases...Continue Reading

Citations

Apr 22, 2020·Scientific Reports·Honghong SunYouhai H Chen
Nov 5, 2017·Scientific Reports·Jiamin ChenLinxi Zhang

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