CSIG-11. TUMOR-CELL INTRINSIC CALCIUM OSCILLATIONS DRIVE BRAIN METASTASIS

Abstract Calcium is a ubiquitous secondary messenger which regulates many cellular processes. Recently, we have shown that a subpopulation of glioblastoma cells can intrinsically generate calcium oscillations which drive proliferative signalling. Here, we set out to investigate whether such cancer cell autonomous oscillations are also present in secondary brain tumours. Employing longitudinal intravital two-photon microscopy in awake mice, we demonstrate that brain metastases of melanoma and lung cancer exhibit spontaneous calcium oscillations in vivo along the metastatic cascade. These oscillations are already observed during intravascular arrest and in in vitro monocultures, suggesting a tumour-cell intrinsic origin. We developed a fully automatic image analysis pipeline to accurately quantify calcium oscillations both in vivo and in vitro. Mathematical modelling of cytosolic and ER calcium stores can predict stable calcium oscillations with similar frequency and peak characteristics as those experimentally observed. We discovered that these oscillations are tightly regulated by an interplay of calcium-induced calcium release and store-operated calcium entry (SOCE). Similarly, SOCE-related ion channels are enriched in tissue from human melanoma brain metastases compared to healthy brain controls and calcium activity can also be observed ex vivo in patient-derived brain metastasis resections. Finally, by correlating calcium activity and EdU incorporation we discovered that the presence of calcium oscillations predicts their proliferative potential in vitro. Importantly, by intravital two-photon microscopy we show that calcium activity correlates with metastasis size in preclinical models, suggesting a potential new therapeutic angle from which to target brain metastases.