Researchers at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) – located at the Parc Científic de Barcelona–, the University of Barcelona and King's and University College London have found that cells in our bodies, when moving collectively, carry out something similar to a game of ‘tag' to coordinate their movement in a particular direction. The study has been published in the current issue of Nature Cell Biology (doi:10.1038/ncb2772).

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The researchers’ findings shed new light on collective cell migration, a critical process in development and wound healing, but which is also inherent to the development of diseases such as cancer. Understanding more about how and why cells move the way they do can lead to valuable insights into how and why cancers occur and spread.

The scientists looked at cells in the neural crest, a very mobile embryonic structure in vertebrates that gives rise to most of the peripheral nervous system and to other cell types in the cardiovascular system, pigment cells in the skin, and some bones, cartilage, and connective tissue in the head.

They saw that, during development, these neural crest cells ‘chase’ other types of cells – so-called placodal cells, which give rise to the sensory organs – which dash away when approached, thus propelling the cell sheet in a certain direction.

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