Breast Cancer Cells Transition from Mesenchymal to Amoeboid Migration in Tunable Three-Dimensional Silk-Collagen Hydrogels.

ABSTRACT: Invading cancer cells adapt their migration phenotype in response to mechanical and biochemical cues from the extracellular matrix. For instance, mesenchymal migration is associated with strong cell-matrix adhesions and an elongated morphology, while amoeboid migration is associated with minimal cell-matrix adhesions and a rounded morphology. However, it remains challenging to elucidate the role of matrix mechan-ics and biochemistry, since these are both dependent on ECM protein concentration. Here, we demonstrate a composite silk fibroin and collagen I hydrogel where stiffness and microstructure can be systematically tuned over a wide range. Using an overlay assay geometry, we show that the invasion of metastatic breast cancer cells exhibits a biphasic dependence on silk fibroin concentra

SUBMITTER: Khoo AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6739834 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature