An engineered niche delineates metastatic potential of breast cancer

Abstract Metastatic breast cancer is often not diagnosed until secondary tumors have become macroscopically visible and millions of tumor cells have invaded distant tissues. Yet, metastasis is initiated by a cascade of events leading to formation of the pre‐metastatic niche, which can precede tumor formation by a matter of years. We aimed to distinguish the potential for metastatic disease from nonmetastatic disease at early times in triple‐negative breast cancer using sister cell lines 4T1 (metastatic), 4T07 (invasive, nonmetastatic), and 67NR (nonmetastatic). We used a porous, polycaprolactone scaffold, that serves as an engineered metastatic niche, to identify metastatic disease through the characteristics of the microenvironment. Analysis of the immune cell composition at the scaffold was able to distinguish noninvasive 67NR tumor‐bearing mice from 4T07 and 4T1 tumor‐bearing mice but could not delineate metastatic potential between the two invasive cell lines. Gene expression in the scaffolds correlated with the up‐regulation of cancer hallmarks (e.g., angiogenesis, hypoxia) in the 4T1 mice relative to 4T07 mice. We developed a 9‐gene signature (Dhx9, Dusp12, Fth1, Ifitm1, Ndufs1, Pja2, Slc1a3, Soga1, Spon2) that successfully distinguished 4T1 disease from 67NR or 4T07 disease throughout metastatic progression. Furthermore, this signature proved highly effective at distinguishing diseased lungs in publicly available datasets of mouse models of metastatic breast cancer and in human models of lung cancer. The early and accurate detection of metastatic disease that could lead to early treatment has the potential to improve patient outcomes and quality of life.