Figure 6.

Plasticity of migration modes of genetically edited MCF10A cell lines. Knockouts of different TSGs induced partial EMT of different stages, which was associated with reorganization of AJs. MCF10A parental cells showed well-defined linear (tangential) AJs and demonstrated limited cell motility of islets. PTEN knockout was accompanied by the appearance of punctuated AJs followed with enhanced coordinated collective migration of epithelial islets. ZFHX3 knockout resulted in the appearance of radial AJs and increased expression of the mesenchymal marker vimentin, which led to the weakening of cell–cell contacts and was accompanied by the loss of coordination of cell movement in islets and, as a result, a decrease in the efficiency of cell migration. DKO cells exhibited a different motile state, intermediate in terms of collective migration, characterized by a combination of linear AJs and high levels of vimentin.