Extracellular ATP drives breast cancer cell migration and metastasis via S100A4 production by cancer cells and fibroblasts

A schematic representation of the potential mode of interaction between cancer cells and fibroblasts upon extracellular ATP stimulation. Extracellular ATP in the tumor microenvironment acts not only on breast cancer cells but also on fibroblasts. ①ATP promotes cancer cell pseudopodia formation and migration through upregulation of intracellular S100A4, and ②enhances the ability of cancer cells to transform fibroblasts into cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF)-like cells (also termed activated fibroblasts), which in turn ③secret S100A4 to act on cancer cells and exacerbate tumor migration.241