A Stiff Extracellular Matrix Favors the Mechanical Cell Competition that Leads to Extrusion of Bacterially-Infected Epithelial Cells.

ABSTRACT: Cell competition refers to the mechanism whereby less fit cells ("losers") are sensed and eliminated by more fit neighboring cells ("winners") and arises during many processes including intracellular bacterial infection. Extracellular matrix (ECM) stiffness can regulate important cellular functions, such as motility, by modulating the physical forces that cells transduce and could thus modulate the output of cellular competitions. Herein, we employ a computational model to investigate the previously overlooked role of ECM stiffness in modulating the forceful extrusion of infected "loser" cells by uninfected "winner" cells. We find that increasing ECM stiffness promotes the collective squeezing and subsequent extrusion of infected cells due to differential cell displacements and cellular fo

SUBMITTER: Aparicio-Yuste R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9257086 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature