ArticleIntegrative biology : quantitative biosciences from nano to macro2009
Spontaneous migration of cancer cells under conditions of mechanical confinement.
Article in Integrative biology : quantitative biosciences from nano to macro, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 120 papers.
What it found
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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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Who cites it
120 citing papers in PubMed, 233 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gastrointestinal Digestion Enhances the In vitro Antitumor Activity of Red Grape Anthocyanins Against Colorectal Cancer Cells.Plant foods for human nutrition (Dordrecht, Netherlands) · 2026Article
- Migrastatics: an overview of the current scenario and future cancer treatments.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
- Physical confinement and phagocytic uptake induce persistent cell migration.Biology open · 2025Article
- Isolation, Extraction, and Analysis of Cells After Confined Migration.Current protocols · 2025Article
- 3D-printed plugs enhance cell usage efficiency for single-cell migration and neuron axon guidance assays.Cell reports methods · 2025Article
- Macrophages migrate persistently and directionally upon entering 2D confinement in the presence of extracellular matrix.Biology open · 2025Article
- Macrophages migrate persistently and directionally upon entering 2D confinement in the presence of extracellular matrix.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Physical confinement and phagocytic uptake induce directional migration.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Microfluidic Applications in Prostate Cancer Research.Micromachines · 2024Review
- Microfluidic devices for precise measurements of cell directionality reveal a role for glutamine during cell migration.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Confinement primes cells for faster migration by polarizing active mitochondria.Nanoscale advances · 2023Article
- Preclinical Models and Technologies in Glioblastoma Research: Evolution, Current State, and Future Avenues.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Microfluidic single-cell migration chip reveals insights into the impact of extracellular matrices on cell movement.Lab on a chip · 2023Article
- High-Throughput Cellular Heterogeneity Analysis in Cell Migration at the Single-Cell Level.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2023Article
- Mechanobiology and survival strategies of circulating tumor cells: a process towards the invasive and metastatic phenotype.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2023Review
- Microfluidics for detection of exosomes and microRNAs in cancer: State of the art.Molecular therapy. Nucleic acids · 2022Review
- Digital Light Processing Bioprinting Advances for Microtissue Models.ACS biomaterials science & engineering · 2022Review
- Strategies for developing complex multi-component in vitro tumor models: Highlights in glioblastoma.Advanced drug delivery reviews · 2022Review
- Microtubule destabilization is a critical checkpoint of chemotaxis and transendothelial migration in melanoma cells but not in T cells.Cell adhesion & migration · 2021Article
- Cancer Stem Cells in Tumor Modeling: Challenges and Future Directions.Advanced nanobiomed research · 2021Article
60 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
When cancer cells spread away from the primary tumor, they often follow the trajectories of lymphatic vessels, nerves, white matter tracts, or other heterogeneous structures in tissues. To better understand this form of guided cell migration we designed a series of microfluidic devices that mechanically constrain migrating cancer cells inside microchannels with cross-section comparable to cell size. We observed unexpectedly fast and persistent movement in one direction for several hours of cancer cells of different types. The persistent motility occurs spontaneously, in the absence of external gradients, suggesting the presence of intrinsic mechanisms driving cancer cell motility that are induced in conditions of mechanical confinement. To probe the mechanisms responsible for this behavior, we exposed cancer cells inside channels to drugs targeting the microtubules, and measured a significant reduction in the average migration speed. Surprisingly, a small number of cells appeared not to be affected by the treatment and displayed fast and persistent migration, comparable to the untreated cells. The new matrix-free, 3D-confined motility assay replicates critical interactions that cancer cells would normally have inside tissues, is compatible with high-content, high-throughput analysis of cellular motility at single cell level, and could provide useful insights into the biology of cancer cell migratory phenotype.
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Registered trials
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.