Proteolysis-free amoeboid migration of melanoma cells through crowded environments via bleb-driven worrying.

ABSTRACT: In crowded microenvironments, migrating cells must find or make a path. Amoeboid cells are thought to find a path by deforming their bodies to squeeze through tight spaces. Yet, some amoeboid cells seem to maintain a near-spherical morphology as they move. To examine how they do so, we visualized amoeboid human melanoma cells in dense environments and found that they carve tunnels via bleb-driven degradation of extracellular matrix components without the need for proteolytic degradation. Interactions between adhesions and collagen at the cell front induce a signaling cascade that promotes bleb enlargement via branched actin polymerization. Large blebs abrade collagen, creating feedback between extracellular matrix structure, cell morphology, and polarization that enables both path generati

SUBMITTER: Driscoll MK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11421976 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature