Substrate Stiffness Modulates the Growth, Phenotype, and Chemoresistance of Ovarian Cancer Cells.

ABSTRACT: Mechanical factors in the tumor microenvironment play an important role in response to a variety of cellular activities in cancer cells. Here, we utilized polyacrylamide hydrogels with varying physical parameters simulating tumor and metastatic target tissues to investigate the effect of substrate stiffness on the growth, phenotype, and chemotherapeutic response of ovarian cancer cells (OCCs). We found that increasing the substrate stiffness promoted the proliferation of SKOV-3 cells, an OCC cell line. This proliferation coincided with the nuclear translocation of the oncogene Yes-associated protein. Additionally, we found that substrate softening promoted elements of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), including mesenchymal cell shape changes, increase in vimentin expression, and dec

SUBMITTER: Fan Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8421636 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature