Crosshatch nanofiber networks of tunable interfiber spacing induce plasticity in cell migration and cytoskeletal response.

ABSTRACT: Biomechanical cues within tissue microenvironments are critical for maintaining homeostasis, and their disruption can contribute to malignant transformation and metastasis. Once transformed, metastatic cancer cells can migrate persistently by adapting (plasticity) to changes in the local fibrous extracellular matrix, and current strategies to recapitulate persistent migration rely exclusively on the use of aligned geometries. Here, the controlled interfiber spacing in suspended crosshatch networks of nanofibers induces cells to exhibit plasticity in migratory behavior (persistent and random) and the associated cytoskeletal arrangement. At dense spacing (3 and 6 µm), unexpectedly, elongated cells migrate persistently (in 1 dimension) at high speeds in 3-dimensional shapes with thick nuclei,

SUBMITTER: Jana A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6766658 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature