Disseminated melanoma cells transdifferentiate into endothelial cells in intravascular niches at metastatic sites (Li et al. 2020, Cell Reports). Disseminated melanoma cells transdifferentiate into endothelial cells in intravascular niches at metastatic sites (Li et al. 2020, Cell Reports)

Here, we combined lineage tracing in a newly developed spontaneous metastatic mouse model of melanoma, advanced imaging and single-cell RNA-sequencing approaches to search for (patho) physiologically-relevant melanoma cellular states. We identified a population of reporter-positive melanoma cells located in intravascular niches of various metastatic organs. These intravascular metastatic cells were dormant, negative for characteristic melanoma markers and acquired endothelial cell markers. Overall design: We RNA-sequenced (3' v2 10x Genomics) about 6.5k methanol fixed single cells of a melanoma infiltrated lymph node using the murine Tyr::NRASQ61K;Ink4a−/− melanoma model.