ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2006
Migration of tumor cells in 3D matrices is governed by matrix stiffness along with cell-matrix adhesion and proteolysis.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 578 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
578 citing papers in PubMed, 1,160 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Single-cell chiral symmetry breaking under confinement.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- RAC2 orchestrates immune cell actin remodeling and migration.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Extracellular matrix physical properties regulate cancer cell morphological transitions in 3D hydrogel microtissues.Acta biomaterialia · 2026Article
- Selecting the optimal cell migration assay: fundamentals and practical guidelines.Nature methods · 2026Review
- Recapitulating Patient-to-Patient Colorectal Cancer Tumor Heterogeneity Using Patient-Derived Xenograft Cells in an Engineered Tissue Model.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Measurement of cellular traction forces during confined migration.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Adipose-mimetic granular hydrogels uncover biophysical cues driving breast cancer invasion.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- The role of non-linear viscoelastic hydrogel mechanics in cell culture and transduction.Materials today. Bio · 2025Review
- Revisiting the biophysical aspects of extracellular-matrix-mimicking hydrogels: what cells seeBiomaterials science · 2025Review
- Article
- Patient-derived esophageal adenocarcinoma organ chip: a physiologically relevant platform for functional precision oncology.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
518 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
10 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Cell migration on 2D surfaces is governed by a balance between counteracting tractile and adhesion forces. Although biochemical factors such as adhesion receptor and ligand concentration and binding, signaling through cell adhesion complexes, and cytoskeletal structure assembly/disassembly have been studied in detail in a 2D context, the critical biochemical and biophysical parameters that affect cell migration in 3D matrices have not been quantitatively investigated. We demonstrate that, in addition to adhesion and tractile forces, matrix stiffness is a key factor that influences cell movement in 3D. Cell migration assays in which Matrigel density, fibronectin concentration, and beta1 integrin binding are systematically varied show that at a specific Matrigel density the migration speed of DU-145 human prostate carcinoma cells is a balance between tractile and adhesion forces. However, when biochemical parameters such as matrix ligand and cell integrin receptor levels are held constant, maximal cell movement shifts to matrices exhibiting lesser stiffness. This behavior contradicts current 2D models but is predicted by a recent force-based computational model of cell movement in a 3D matrix. As expected, this 3D motility through an extracellular environment of pore size much smaller than cellular dimensions does depend on proteolytic activity as broad-spectrum matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibitors limit the migration of DU-145 cells and also HT-1080 fibrosarcoma cells. Our experimental findings here represent, to our knowledge, discovery of a previously undescribed set of balances of cell and matrix properties that govern the ability of tumor cells to migration in 3D environments.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.