Data on the effects of ECM rigidity on actomyosin contractility and invadopodia activity in individual versus pairs of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cells.

ABSTRACT: Migration through the extracellular matrix (ECM) is essential for cancer cells to escape the primary tumor and invade neighboring tissues with the potential for metastasis [1]. To penetrate tissue barriers, migrating cancer cells degrade the ECM with actin-rich membrane protrusions called invadopodia [2]. We have previously found that invadopodial ECM degradation is regulated by ECM rigidity in a process mediated by contractile forces in individual head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells [3], [4]. However, cancer cells often migrate together and interact with each other to alter their actomyosin contractility in response to the biomechanical properties of the ECM [5]. Therefore, we tested whether ECM rigidity promotes biomechanical interactions between cancer cells to enhance p

SUBMITTER: Jerrell R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8671857 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature