Tumor heterogeneity drives disease progression, treatment resistance, and patient relapse, yet remains largely underexplored in invasion and metastasis. Here, we investigated heterogeneity within collective cancer invasion by integrating DNA methylation and gene expression analysis in rare purified lung cancer leader and follower cells. Our results showed global DNA methylation rewiring in leader cells and revealed the filopodial motor MYO10 as a critical gene at the intersection of epigenetic heterogeneity and three-dimensional (3D) collective invasion. We further identified JAG1 signaling as a previously unknown upstream activator of MYO10 expression in leader cells. Using live-cell imaging, we found that MYO10 drives filopodial persistence necessary for micropatterning extracellular fibronectin into linear tracks at the edge of 3D collective invasion exclusively in leaders. Our data fit a model where epigenetic heterogeneity and JAG1 signaling jointly drive collective cancer invasion through MYO10 up-regulation in epigenetically permissive leader cells, which induces filopodia dynamics necessary for linearized fibronectin micropatterning.

Collective invasion, the coordinated movement of cohesive packs of cells, has become recognized as a major mode of metastasis for solid tumors. These packs are phenotypically heterogeneous and include specialized cells that lead the invasive pack and others that follow behind. To better understand how these unique cell types cooperate to facilitate collective invasion, we analyzed transcriptomic sequence variation between leader and follower populations isolated from the H1299 non-small cell lung cancer cell line using an image-guided selection technique. We now identify 14 expressed mutations that are selectively enriched in leader or follower cells, suggesting a novel link between genomic and phenotypic heterogeneity within a collectively invading tumor cell population. Functional characterization of two phenotype-specific candidate mutations showed that ARP3 enhances collective invasion by promoting the leader cell phenotype and that wild-type KDM5B suppresses chain-like cooperative behavior. These results demonstrate an important role for distinct genetic variants in establishing leader and follower phenotypes and highlight the necessity of maintaining a capacity for phenotypic plasticity during collective cancer invasion.

Background Intratumoral heterogeneity is defined by subpopulations with varying genotypes and phenotypes. Specialized, highly invasive leader cells and less invasive follower cells are phenotypically distinct subpopulations that cooperate during collective cancer invasion. Because leader cells are a rare subpopulation that would be missed by bulk sequencing, a novel image‐guided genomics platform was used to precisely select this subpopulation. This study identified a novel leader cell mutation signature and tested its ability to predict prognosis in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patient cohorts. Methods Spatiotemporal genomic and cellular analysis was used to isolate and perform RNA sequencing on leader and follower populations from the H1299 NSCLC cell line, and it revealed a leader‐specific mutation cluster on chromosome 16q. Genomic data from patients with lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC; n = 475) and lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD; n = 501) from The Cancer Genome Atlas were stratified by 16q mutation cluster (16qMC) status (16qMC+ vs 16qMC−) and compared for overall survival (OS), progression‐free survival (PFS), and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). Results Poorer OS, poorer PFS, or both were found across all stages and among early‐stage patients with 16qMC+ tumors within the LUSC and LUAD cohorts. GSEA revealed 16qMC+ tumors to be enriched for the expression of metastasis‐ and survival‐associated gene sets. Conclusions This represents the first leader cell mutation signature identified in patients and has the potential to better stratify high‐risk NSCLC and ultimately improve patient outcomes.

The acetamide-benzonitrile and benzonitrile self-condensation reactions promoted by nickel­(II) hydroxy dimer 1, [Ni2(tBuDPA)2(μ-OH)2]­(ClO4)2 (tBuDPA = bis­(2-methylpyridine)tert-butylamine), for the production of imidoylamidine (IDA) ligand, N-benzimidoylbenzamidine, is investigated by UV–vis, ESI-MS, FT-IR, elemental analysis, and single crystal XRD. An imidoylamide (IDD) intermediate 2, [Ni­(tBuDPA)­(IDD)]­ClO4, is trapped and fully characterized, and its reactivity with benzonitrile is confirmed. Kinetic studies gave insight into the mechanism for the formation of 2 and its conversion to 3, [Ni­(tBuDPA)­(IDA)]­ClO4. Formation of 2 is dependent on acetamide concentration, and its reactivity is affected by protic solvents, water, and methanol.

Numerous techniques have been employed to deconstruct the heterogeneity observed in normal and diseased cellular populations, including single cell RNA sequencing,in situhybridization, and flow cytometry. While these approaches have revolutionized our understanding of heterogeneity, in isolation they cannot correlate phenotypic information within a physiologically relevant live-cell state, with molecular profiles. This inability to integrate a historical live-cell phenotype, such as invasiveness, cell:cell interactions, and changes in spatial positioning, with multi-omic data, creates a gap in understanding cellular heterogeneity. We sought to address this gap by employing lab technologies to design a detailed protocol, termed Spatiotemporal Genomics and Cellular Analysis (SaGA), for the precise imaging-based selection, isolation, and expansion of phenotypically distinct live-cells. We begin with cells stably expressing a photoconvertible fluorescent protein and employ live cell confocal microscopy to photoconvert a user-defined single cell or set of cells displaying a phenotype of interest. The total population is then extracted from its microenvironment, and the optically highlighted cells are isolated using fluorescence activated cell sorting. SaGA-isolated cells can then be subjected to multi-omics analysis or cellular propagation forin vitroorin vivostudies. This protocol can be applied to a variety of conditions, creating protocol flexibility for user-specific research interests. The SaGA technique can be accomplished in one workday by non-specialists and results in a phenotypically defined cellular subpopulation for integration with multi-omics techniques. We envision this approach providing multi-dimensional datasets exploring the relationship between live-cell phenotype and multi-omic heterogeneity within normal and diseased cellular populations.