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Cell migration is the major driver of invasion and metastasis during cancer progression. For cells to migrate, they utilize the actin-myosin cytoskeleton and adhesion molecules, such as integrins and CD44, to generate traction forces in their environment. CD44 primarily binds to hyaluronic acid (HA) and integrins primarily bind to extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins such as collagen. However, the role of CD44 under integrin-mediated conditions and vice versa is not well known. Here, we performed traction force microscopy (TFM) on U251 cells seeded on collagen I-coated polyacrylamide gels to assess the functional mechanical relationship between integrins and CD44. Performing TFM on integrin-mediated adhesion conditions, i.e., collagen, we found that CD44KO U251 cells exerted more traction force than wild-type (WT) U251 cells. Furthermore, untreated WT and CD44-blocked WT exhibited comparable results. Conversely, in CD44-mediated adhesive conditions, integrin-blocked WT cells exerted a higher traction force than untreated WT cells. Our data suggest that CD44 and integrins have a mutually antagonistic relationship where one receptor represses the other's ability to generate traction force on its cognate substrate.
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Despite recent experimental progress in characterizing cell migration mechanics, our understanding of the mechanisms governing rapid cell movement remains limited. To effectively limit tumor growth, antitumoral T cells need to rapidly migrate to find and kill cancer cells. To investigate the upper limits of cell speed, we developed a new hybrid stochastic-mean field model of bleb-based cell motility. We first examined the potential for adhesion-free bleb-based migration and show that cells migrate inefficiently in the absence of adhesion-based forces, i.e., cell swimming. While no cortical contractility oscillations are needed for cells to swim in viscoelastic media, high-to-low cortical contractility oscillations are necessary for cell swimming in viscous media. This involves a high cortical contractility phase with multiple bleb nucleation events, followed by an intracellular pressure buildup recovery phase at low cortical tensions, resulting in modest net cell motion. However, our model suggests that cells can employ a hybrid bleb- and adhesion-based migration mechanism for rapid cell motility and identifies conditions for optimality. The model provides a momentum-conserving mechanism underlying rapid single-cell migration and identifies factors as design criteria for engineering T cell therapies to improve movement in mechanically complex environments.
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Purpose: Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive malignant brain tumor with 2 year survival rates of 6.7% (Stupp et al. in J Clin Oncol Off J Am Soc Clin Oncol 25:4127-4136, 2007; Mohammed et al. in Rep Pract Oncol Radiother 27:1026-1036, 2002). One key characteristic of the disease is the ability of glioblastoma cells to migrate rapidly and spread throughout healthy brain tissue (Lefranc et al. in J Clin Oncol Off J Am Soc Clin Oncol 23:2411-2422, 2005; Hoelzinger et al. in J Natl Cancer Inst 21:1583-1593, 2007). To develop treatments that effectively target cell migration, it is important to understand the fundamental mechanism driving cell migration in brain tissue. Several models of cell migration have been proposed, including the motor-clutch, bleb-based motility, and osmotic engine models. Methods: Here we utilized confocal imaging to measure traction dynamics and migration speeds of glioblastoma cells in mouse organotypic brain slices to identify the mode of cell migration. Results: We found that nearly all cell-vasculature interactions reflected pulling, rather than pushing, on vasculature at the cell leading edge, a finding consistent with a motor-clutch mode of migration, and inconsistent with an osmotic engine model or confined bleb-based migration. Reducing myosin motor activity, a key component in the motor-clutch model, was found to decrease migration speed at high doses for all cell types including U251 and 6 low-passage patient-derived xenograft lines (3 proneural and 3 mesenchymal subtypes). Variable responses were found at low doses, consistent with a motor-clutch mode of migration which predicts a biphasic relationship between migration speed and motor-to-clutch ratio. Targeting of molecular clutches including integrins and CD44 slowed migration of U251 cells. Conclusions: Overall we find that glioblastoma cell migration is most consistent with a motor-clutch mechanism to migrate through brain tissue ex vivo, and that both integrins and CD44, as well as myosin motors, play an important role in constituting the adhesive clutch. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12195-024-00799-x.
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Medulloblastoma (MB) encompasses diverse subgroups, and leptomeningeal disease/metastasis (LMD) plays a substantial role in associated fatalities. Despite extensive exploration of canonical genes in MB, the molecular mechanisms underlying LMD and the involvement of the orthodenticle homeobox 2 (OTX2) gene, a key driver in aggressive MB Group 3, remain insufficiently understood. Recognizing OTX2's pivotal role, we investigated its potential as a catalyst for aggressive cellular behaviors, including migration, invasion, and metastasis. OTX2 overexpression heightened cell growth, motility, and polarization in Group 3 MB cells. Orthotopic implantation of OTX2-overexpressing cells in mice led to reduced median survival, accompanied by the development of spinal cord and brain metastases. Mechanistically, OTX2 acted as a transcriptional activator of the Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) gene's promoter and the mTORC2 signaling pathway, correlating with upregulated downstream genes that orchestrate cell motility and migration. Knockdown of mTOR mRNA mitigated OTX2-mediated enhancements in cell motility and polarization. Analysis of human MB tumor samples (N = 952) revealed a positive correlation between OTX2 and mTOR mRNA expression, emphasizing the clinical significance of OTX2's role in the mTORC2 pathway. Our results reveal that OTX2 governs the mTORC2 signaling pathway, instigating LMD in Group 3 MBs and offering insights into potential therapeutic avenues through mTORC2 inhibition.
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Regulação Neoplásica da Expressão Gênica , Alvo Mecanístico do Complexo 2 de Rapamicina , Meduloblastoma , Neoplasias Meníngeas , Fatores de Transcrição Otx , Animais , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Camundongos , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Movimento Celular/genética , Proliferação de Células/genética , Neoplasias Cerebelares/genética , Neoplasias Cerebelares/patologia , Neoplasias Cerebelares/metabolismo , Alvo Mecanístico do Complexo 2 de Rapamicina/metabolismo , Alvo Mecanístico do Complexo 2 de Rapamicina/genética , Meduloblastoma/genética , Meduloblastoma/patologia , Meduloblastoma/metabolismo , Neoplasias Meníngeas/genética , Neoplasias Meníngeas/patologia , Neoplasias Meníngeas/metabolismo , Neoplasias Meníngeas/secundário , Fatores de Transcrição Otx/metabolismo , Fatores de Transcrição Otx/genética , Transdução de SinaisRESUMO
Radiation therapy (RT) has been a primary treatment modality in cancer for decades. Increasing evidence suggests that RT can induce an immunosuppressive shift via upregulation of cells such as tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). MDSCs inhibit antitumor immunity through potent immunosuppressive mechanisms and have the potential to be crucial tools for cancer prognosis and treatment. MDSCs interact with many different pathways, desensitizing tumor tissue and interacting with tumor cells to promote therapeutic resistance. Vascular damage induced by RT triggers an inflammatory signaling cascade and potentiates hypoxia in the tumor microenvironment (TME). RT can also drastically modify cytokine and chemokine signaling in the TME to promote the accumulation of MDSCs. RT activation of the cGAS-STING cytosolic DNA sensing pathway recruits MDSCs through a CCR2-mediated mechanism, inhibiting the production of type 1 interferons and hampering antitumor activity and immune surveillance in the TME. The upregulation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 and vascular endothelial growth factor mobilizes MDSCs to the TME. After recruitment, MDSCs promote immunosuppression by releasing reactive oxygen species and upregulating nitric oxide production through inducible nitric oxide synthase expression to inhibit cytotoxic activity. Overexpression of arginase-1 on subsets of MDSCs degrades L-arginine and downregulates CD3ζ, inhibiting T-cell receptor reactivity. This review explains how radiation promotes tumor resistance through activation of immunosuppressive MDSCs in the TME and discusses current research targeting MDSCs, which could serve as a promising clinical treatment strategy in the future.
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Células Supressoras Mieloides , Neoplasias , Humanos , Células Supressoras Mieloides/metabolismo , Fator A de Crescimento do Endotélio Vascular/metabolismo , Neoplasias/patologia , Microambiente Tumoral , Imunossupressores , Hipóxia/metabolismoRESUMO
Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive malignant brain tumor with 2-year survival rates of 6.7% [1], [2]. One key characteristic of the disease is the ability of glioblastoma cells to migrate rapidly and spread throughout healthy brain tissue[3], [4]. To develop treatments that effectively target cell migration, it is important to understand the fundamental mechanism driving cell migration in brain tissue. Here we utilized confocal imaging to measure traction dynamics and migration speeds of glioblastoma cells in mouse organotypic brain slices to identify the mode of cell migration. Through imaging cell-vasculature interactions and utilizing drugs, antibodies, and genetic modifications to target motors and clutches, we find that glioblastoma cell migration is most consistent with a motor-clutch mechanism to migrate through brain tissue ex vivo, and that both integrins and CD44, as well as myosin motors, play an important role in constituting the adhesive clutch.
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Cells exert forces on mechanically compliant environments to sense stiffness, migrate, and remodel tissue. Cells can sense environmental stiffness via myosin-generated pulling forces acting on F-actin, which is in turn mechanically coupled to the environment via adhesive proteins, akin to a clutch in a drivetrain. In this "motor-clutch" framework, the force transmitted depends on the complex interplay of motor, clutch, and environmental properties. Previous mean-field analysis of the motor-clutch model identified the conditions for optimal stiffness for maximal force transmission via a dimensionless number that combines motor-clutch parameters. However, in this and other previous mean-field analyses, the motor-clutch system is assumed to have balanced motors and clutches and did not consider force-dependent clutch reinforcement and catch bond behavior. Here, we generalize the motor-clutch analytical framework to include imbalanced motor-clutch regimes, with clutch reinforcement and catch bonding, and investigate optimality with respect to all parameters. We found that traction force is strongly influenced by clutch stiffness, and we discovered an optimal clutch stiffness that maximizes traction force, suggesting that cells could tune their clutch mechanical properties to perform a specific function. The results provide guidance for maximizing the accuracy of cell-generated force measurements via molecular tension sensors by designing their mechanosensitive linker peptide to be as stiff as possible. In addition, we found that, on rigid substrates, the mean-field analysis identifies optimal motor properties, suggesting that cells could regulate their myosin repertoire and activity to maximize force transmission. Finally, we found that clutch reinforcement shifts the optimum substrate stiffness to larger values, whereas the optimum substrate stiffness is insensitive to clutch catch bond properties. Overall, our work reveals novel features of the motor-clutch model that can affect the design of molecular tension sensors and provide a generalized analytical framework for predicting and controlling cell adhesion and migration in immunotherapy and cancer.
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Actinas , Tração , Fenômenos Biomecânicos , Actinas/metabolismo , Citoesqueleto de Actina/metabolismo , Adesão CelularRESUMO
Glioblastoma is the most aggressive malignant brain tumor with poor survival due to its invasive nature driven by cell migration, with unclear linkage to transcriptomic information. Here, we applied a physics-based motor-clutch model, a cell migration simulator (CMS), to parameterize the migration of glioblastoma cells and define physical biomarkers on a patient-by-patient basis. We reduced the 11-dimensional parameter space of the CMS into 3D to identify three principal physical parameters that govern cell migration: motor number - describing myosin II activity, clutch number - describing adhesion level, and F-actin polymerization rate. Experimentally, we found that glioblastoma patient-derived (xenograft) (PD(X)) cell lines across mesenchymal (MES), proneural (PN), classical (CL) subtypes and two institutions (N=13 patients) had optimal motility and traction force on stiffnesses around 9.3kPa, with otherwise heterogeneous and uncorrelated motility, traction, and F-actin flow. By contrast, with the CMS parameterization, we found glioblastoma cells consistently had balanced motor/clutch ratios to enable effective migration, and that MES cells had higher actin polymerization rates resulting in higher motility. The CMS also predicted differential sensitivity to cytoskeletal drugs between patients. Finally, we identified 11 genes that correlated with the physical parameters, suggesting that transcriptomic data alone could potentially predict the mechanics and speed of glioblastoma cell migration. Overall, we describe a general physics-based framework for parameterizing individual glioblastoma patients and connecting to clinical transcriptomic data, that can potentially be used to develop patient-specific anti-migratory therapeutic strategies generally.
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Hydrogels are important platform materials for in vitro cellular studies. Mechanistic studies on durotaxis, the directional movement of a cell affected by a spatial gradient of stiffness of the underlying substrate, requires materials such as polyacrylamide, polyethylene glycol, or PDMS, in which the stiffness can be controlled in a spatiotemporal manner. Here, we describe the synthesis of an o-nitrobenzyl-based photocleavable cross-linker and its incorporation into a polyacrylamide hydrogel to render it photoresponsive. Precise control over the physical properties of the gel allows observation of glioblastoma durotaxis under surface stiffness conditions relevant to the actual brain environment.
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Glioblastoma , Hidrogéis , Humanos , Hidrogéis/química , Matriz Extracelular/metabolismo , Mecanotransdução Celular/fisiologia , Polietilenoglicóis/análise , Glioblastoma/metabolismoRESUMO
How cells sense tissue stiffness to guide cell migration is a fundamental question in development, fibrosis and cancer. Although durotaxis-cell migration towards increasing substrate stiffness-is well established, it remains unknown whether individual cells can migrate towards softer environments. Here, using microfabricated stiffness gradients, we describe the directed migration of U-251MG glioma cells towards less stiff regions. This 'negative durotaxis' does not coincide with changes in canonical mechanosensitive signalling or actomyosin contractility. Instead, as predicted by the motor-clutch-based model, migration occurs towards areas of 'optimal stiffness', where cells can generate maximal traction. In agreement with this model, negative durotaxis is selectively disrupted and even reversed by the partial inhibition of actomyosin contractility. Conversely, positive durotaxis can be switched to negative by lowering the optimal stiffness by the downregulation of talin-a key clutch component. Our results identify the molecular mechanism driving context-dependent positive or negative durotaxis, determined by a cell's contractile and adhesive machinery.
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Actomiosina , Fenômenos Biomecânicos , Movimento CelularRESUMO
Characterizing the motile properties of glioblastoma tumor cells could provide a useful way to predict the spread of tumors and to tailor the therapeutic approach. Radiomics has emerged as a diagnostic tool in the classification of tumor grade, stage, and prognosis. The purpose of this work is to examine the potential of radiomics to predict the motility of glioblastoma cells. Tissue specimens were obtained from 31 patients undergoing surgical resection of glioblastoma. Mean tumor cell motility was calculated from time-lapse videos of specimen cells. Manual segmentation was used to define the border of the enhancing tumor T1-weighted MR images, and 107 radiomics features were extracted from the normalized image volumes. Model parameter coefficients were estimated using the adaptive lasso technique validated with leave-one-out cross validation (LOOCV) and permutation tests. The R-squared value for the predictive model was 0.60 with p-values for each individual parameter estimate less than 0.0001. Permutation test models trained with scrambled motility failed to produce a model that out-performed the model trained on the true data. The results of this work suggest that it is possible for a quantitative MRI feature-based regression model to non-invasively predict the cellular motility of glioblastomas.
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Radiation therapy is used in nearly 50% of cancer treatments in the developed world. Currently, radiation treatments are homogenous and fail to take into consideration intratumoral heterogeneity. We demonstrate the importance of considering intratumoral heterogeneity and the development of resistance during fractionated radiotherapy when the same dose of radiation is delivered for all fractions (Fractional Equivalent Dosing FED). METHODS: A mathematical model was developed with the following parameters: a starting population of 1011 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumor cells, 48 h doubling time, and cell death per the linear-quadratic (LQ) model with α and ß values derived from RSIα/ß, in a previously described gene expression based model that estimates α and ß. To incorporate both inter- and intratumor radiation sensitivity, RSIα/ß output for each patient sample is assumed to represent an average value in a gamma distribution with the bounds set to -50% and +50% of RSIα/b. Therefore, we assume that within a given tumor there are subpopulations that have varying radiation sensitivity parameters that are distinct from other tumor samples with a different mean RSIα/ß. A simulation cohort (SC) comprised of 100 lung cancer patients with available RSIα/ß (patient specific α and ß values) was used to investigate 60 Gy in 30 fractions with fractionally equivalent dosing (FED). A separate validation cohort (VC) of 57 lung cancer patients treated with radiation with available local control (LC), overall survival (OS), and tumor gene expression was used to clinically validate the model. Cox regression was used to test for significance to predict clinical outcomes as a continuous variable in multivariate analysis (MVA). Finally, the VC was used to compare FED schedules with various altered fractionation schema utilizing a Kruskal-Wallis test. This was examined using the end points of end of treatment log cell count (LCC) and by a parameter described as mean log kill efficiency (LKE) defined as: LCCâ = â log10(tumorcellcount) [Formula: see text] RESULTS: Cox regression analysis on LCC for the VC demonstrates that, after incorporation of intratumoral heterogeneity, LCC has a linear correlation with local control (p = 0.002) and overall survival (p = < 0.001). Other suggested treatment schedules labeled as High Intensity Treatment (HIT) with a total 60 Gy delivered over 6 weeks have a lower mean LCC and an increased LKE compared to standard of care 60 Gy delivered in FED in the VC. CONCLUSION: We find that LCC is a clinically relevant metric that is correlated with local control and overall survival in NSCLC. We conclude that 60 Gy delivered over 6 weeks with altered HIT fractionation leads to an enhancement in tumor control compared to FED when intratumoral heterogeneity is considered.
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Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas , Neoplasias Pulmonares , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/radioterapia , Fracionamento da Dose de Radiação , Humanos , Modelos Lineares , Neoplasias Pulmonares/radioterapiaRESUMO
Cell migration on two-dimensional substrates is typically characterized by lamellipodia at the leading edge, mature focal adhesions and spread morphologies. These observations result from adherent cell migration studies on stiff, elastic substrates, because most cells do not migrate on soft, elastic substrates. However, many biological tissues are soft and viscoelastic, exhibiting stress relaxation over time in response to a deformation. Here, we have systematically investigated the impact of substrate stress relaxation on cell migration on soft substrates. We observed that cells migrate minimally on substrates with an elastic modulus of 2 kPa that are elastic or exhibit slow stress relaxation, but migrate robustly on 2-kPa substrates that exhibit fast stress relaxation. Strikingly, migrating cells were not spread out and did not extend lamellipodial protrusions, but were instead rounded, with filopodia protrusions extending at the leading edge, and exhibited small nascent adhesions. Computational models of cell migration based on a motor-clutch framework predict the observed impact of substrate stress relaxation on cell migration and filopodia dynamics. Our findings establish substrate stress relaxation as a key requirement for robust cell migration on soft substrates and uncover a mode of two-dimensional cell migration marked by round morphologies, filopodia protrusions and weak adhesions.
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Movimento Celular , Pseudópodes/metabolismo , Membrana Basal/metabolismo , Fenômenos Biomecânicos , Adesão Celular , Linhagem Celular , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Elasticidade , HumanosRESUMO
Biological tissues contain micrometer-scale gaps and pores, including those found within extracellular matrix fiber networks, between tightly packed cells, and between blood vessels or nerve bundles and their associated basement membranes. These spaces restrict cell motion to a single-spatial dimension (1D), a feature that is not captured in traditional in vitro cell migration assays performed on flat, unconfined two-dimensional (2D) substrates. Mechanical confinement can variably influence cell migration behaviors, and it is presently unclear whether the mechanisms used for migration in 2D unconfined environments are relevant in 1D confined environments. Here, we assessed whether a cell migration simulator and associated parameters previously measured for cells on 2D unconfined compliant hydrogels could predict 1D confined cell migration in microfluidic channels. We manufactured microfluidic devices with narrow channels (60-µm2 rectangular cross-sectional area) and tracked human glioma cells that spontaneously migrated within channels. Cell velocities (vexp = 0.51 ± 0.02 µm min-1) were comparable to brain tumor expansion rates measured in the clinic. Using motor-clutch model parameters estimated from cells on unconfined 2D planar hydrogel substrates, simulations predicted similar migration velocities (vsim = 0.37 ± 0.04 µm min-1) and also predicted the effects of drugs targeting the motor-clutch system or cytoskeletal assembly. These results are consistent with glioma cells utilizing a motor-clutch system to migrate in confined environments.
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Citoesqueleto , Glioma , Movimento Celular , Matriz Extracelular , Humanos , MicrofluídicaRESUMO
Semaphorins, specifically type IV, are important regulators of axonal guidance and have been increasingly implicated in poor prognoses in a number of different solid cancers. In conjunction with their cognate PLXNB family receptors, type IV members have been increasingly shown to mediate oncogenic functions necessary for tumor development and malignant spread. In this study, we investigated the role of semaphorin 4C (SEMA4C) in osteosarcoma growth, progression, and metastasis. We investigated the expression and localization of SEMA4C in primary osteosarcoma patient tissues and its tumorigenic functions in these malignancies. We demonstrate that overexpression of SEMA4C promotes properties of cellular transformation, while RNAi knockdown of SEMA4C promotes adhesion and reduces cellular proliferation, colony formation, migration, wound healing, tumor growth, and lung metastasis. These phenotypic changes were accompanied by reductions in activated AKT signaling, G1 cell cycle delay, and decreases in expression of mesenchymal marker genes SNAI1, SNAI2, and TWIST1. Lastly, monoclonal antibody blockade of SEMA4C in vitro mirrored that of the genetic studies. Together, our results indicate a multi-dimensional oncogenic role for SEMA4C in metastatic osteosarcoma and more importantly that SEMA4C has actionable clinical potential.
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Neoplasias Ósseas/patologia , Progressão da Doença , Osteossarcoma/patologia , Semaforinas/metabolismo , Carcinogênese , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Proliferação de Células , Transformação Celular Neoplásica , Regulação Neoplásica da Expressão Gênica , Técnicas de Silenciamento de Genes , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/secundário , Metástase Neoplásica , Semaforinas/deficiência , Semaforinas/genéticaRESUMO
Glioblastoma is a primary malignant brain tumor characterized by highly infiltrative glioma cells. Vasculature and white matter tracts are considered to be the preferred and fastest routes for glioma invasion through brain tissue. In this study, we systematically quantified the routes and motility of the U251 human glioblastoma cell line in mouse brain slices by multimodal imaging. Specifically, we used polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography to delineate nerve fiber tracts while confocal fluorescence microscopy was used to image cell migration and brain vasculature. Somewhat surprisingly, we found that in mouse brain slices, U251 glioma cells do not follow white matter tracts but rather preferentially migrate along vasculature in both gray and white matter. In addition, U251 cell motility is â¼2-fold higher in gray matter than in white matter (91 vs. 43 µm2/h), with a substantial fraction (44%) of cells in both regions invading without close association with vasculature. Interestingly, within both regions, the rates of migration for the perivascular and televascular routes of invasion were indistinguishable. Furthermore, by imaging of local vasculature deformation dynamics during cell migration, we found that U251 cells are capable of exerting traction forces that locally pull on their environment, suggesting the applicability of a "motor-clutch"-based model for migration in vivo. Overall, by quantitatively analyzing the migration dynamics along the diverse pathways followed by invading U251 glioma cells as observed by our multimodal imaging approach, our studies suggest that effective antiinvasive strategies will need to simultaneously limit parallel routes of both perivascular and televascular invasion through both gray and white matter.
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Neoplasias Encefálicas/diagnóstico por imagem , Neoplasias Encefálicas/patologia , Encéfalo/patologia , Movimento Celular , Glioma/diagnóstico por imagem , Glioma/patologia , Imagem Óptica , Fenômenos Biomecânicos , Encéfalo/diagnóstico por imagem , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Substância Cinzenta/diagnóstico por imagem , Substância Cinzenta/patologia , Humanos , Imagem Multimodal , Substância Branca/diagnóstico por imagem , Substância Branca/patologiaRESUMO
Cell migration and traction are essential to many biological phenomena, and one of their key features is sensitivity to substrate stiffness, which biophysical models, such as the motor-clutch model and the cell migration simulator can predict and explain. However, these models have not accounted for the finite size of adhesions, the spatial distribution of forces within adhesions. Here, we derive an expression that relates varying adhesion radius ( R) and spatial distribution of force within an adhesion (described by s) to the effective substrate stiffness ( κsub ), as a function of the Young's modulus of the substrate ( E Y ), which yields the relation, κsub=RsEY , for two-dimensional cell cultures. Experimentally, we found that a cone-shaped force distribution ( s = 1.05) can describe the observed displacements of hydrogels deformed by adherent U251 glioma cells. Also, we found that the experimentally observed adhesion radius increases linearly with the cell protrusion force, consistent with the predictions of the motor-clutch model with spatially distributed clutches. We also found that, theoretically, the influence of one protrusion on another through a continuous elastic environment is negligible. Overall, we conclude cells can potentially control their own interpretation of the mechanics of the environment by controlling adhesion size and spatial distribution of forces within an adhesion.
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Neoplasias da Mama/patologia , Adesão Celular , Movimento Celular , Módulo de Elasticidade , Mecanotransdução Celular , Músculo Liso Vascular/fisiologia , Células Cultivadas , Feminino , Humanos , Músculo Liso Vascular/citologiaRESUMO
The ability of glioblastoma to disperse through the brain contributes to its lethality, and blocking this behavior has been an appealing therapeutic approach. Although a number of proinvasive signaling pathways are active in glioblastoma, many are redundant, so targeting one can be overcome by activating another. However, these pathways converge on nonredundant components of the cytoskeleton, and we have shown that inhibiting one of these-the myosin II family of cytoskeletal motors-blocks glioblastoma invasion even with simultaneous activation of multiple upstream promigratory pathways. Myosin IIA and IIB are the most prevalent isoforms of myosin II in glioblastoma, and we now show that codeleting these myosins markedly impairs tumorigenesis and significantly prolongs survival in a rodent model of this disease. However, while targeting just myosin IIA also impairs tumor invasion, it surprisingly increases tumor proliferation in a manner that depends on environmental mechanics. On soft surfaces myosin IIA deletion enhances ERK1/2 activity, while on stiff surfaces it enhances the activity of NFκB, not only in glioblastoma but in triple-negative breast carcinoma and normal keratinocytes as well. We conclude myosin IIA suppresses tumorigenesis in at least two ways that are modulated by the mechanics of the tumor and its stroma. Our results also suggest that inhibiting tumor invasion can enhance tumor proliferation and that effective therapy requires targeting cellular components that drive both proliferation and invasion simultaneously.