Breast adenocarcinoma cells adhere stronger to brain pericytes than to endothelial cells

Most of the malignancies detected within the brain parenchyma are of metastatic origin. As the brain lacks classical lymphatic circulation, the primary way for metastasis relies on hematogenous routes. Dissemination of metastatic cells to the brain implies attachment to the luminal surface of brain endothelial cells, transmigration through the vessel wall, and adhesion to the brain surface of the vasculature. During this process, tumor cells must interact with brain endothelial cells and later on with pericytes. Physical interaction between tumor cells and brain vascular cells might be crucial in the successful extravasation of metastatic cells through blood vessels and later in their survival within the brain environment. Therefore, we applied single-cell force spectroscopy to investigate the nanoscale adhesive properties of living breast adenocarcinoma cells to brain endothelial cells and pericytes. We found target cell type-dependent adhesion characteristics, i.e. increased adhesion of the tumor cells to pericytes in comparison to endothelial cells, which underlines the existence of metastatic potential-related nanomechanical differences relying partly on membrane tether dynamics. Varying adhesion strength of the tumor cells to different cell types of brain vessels presumably reflects the transitory adhesion to endothelial cells before extravasation and the long-lasting strong interaction with pericytes during survival and proliferation in the brain. Our results highlight the importance of specific mechanical interactions between tumor cells and host cells during metastasis formation.