Studying the convergence of embryonic development and melanoma tumorigenesis in vivo

The incidence of melanoma has steadily and sharply risen over the past century, highlighting our lack of understanding of this deadly cancer. Melanocytes, which give rise to melanoma upon neoplastic transformation, derive from a highly invasive, pluripotent embryonic cell population termed the neural crest. Herein we compare and contrast melanoma with its ancestrally‐related neural crest to evaluate the metastatic predisposition of melanoma cells resulting from similarities with the neural crest invasion program. Using a novel chick embryo model, we combine high resolution in vivo imaging with advanced genetic profiling to characterize behavioral and molecular signatures associated with invasive melanoma cells. We demonstrate that aggressive melanoma cells respond to specific host neural crest inductive cues to advance their migration along neural crest pathways. This model system provides a robust in vivo model to study melanoma cell migration and may open doors to the identification of novel molecular markers and targetable cellular pathways involved in the metastatic process. This work was supported by CA121205 and NRSA 1F32CA144297‐01A1 from the NIH/NCI, and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. Grant Funding Source: NIH