Antagonism in multiple-cue chemotaxis in breast cancer cells*

Chemotaxis is defined as biased cell motion towards an external chemical gradient. It is a pivotal step in cancer metastasis where cancer cells move towards chemical cues and spread to different parts of the body. We used triple-negative breast cancer cells to study chemotaxis towards cues formed by multiple growth factors and found, surprisingly, that the bias in the movement was less pronounced when we combine two attractant gradients compared to when we have individual gradients. We study this antagonism using stochastic simulations and a simple analytic model.