ArticleMolecular biology of the cell2014
Soft matrix is a natural stimulator for cellular invasiveness.
Article in Molecular biology of the cell, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 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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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- Matrix Stiffness Directs Stemness Signatures in Breast Cancer.Advanced healthcare materials · 2026Article
- Fibroblasts in immune responses, inflammatory diseases and therapeutic implications.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2025Review
- Dynamic regulation of integrin β1 phosphorylation supports invasion of breast cancer cells.Nature cell biology · 2025Article
- Biomimetic Hydrogel Strategies for Cancer Therapy.Gels (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Fibroblasts-Warriors at the Intersection of Wound Healing and Disrepair.Biomolecules · 2023Review
- Targeting extracellular matrix stiffness and mechanotransducers to improve cancer therapy.Journal of hematology & oncology · 2022Review
- Directionality of Macrophages Movement in Tumour Invasion: A Multiscale Moving-Boundary Approach.Bulletin of mathematical biology · 2020Article
- Distinct phenotypes of cancer cells on tissue matrix gel.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2020Article
- Cell-Scale Degradation of Peritumoural Extracellular Matrix Fibre Network and Its Role Within Tissue-Scale Cancer Invasion.Bulletin of mathematical biology · 2020Article
- Multiscale Modelling of Fibres Dynamics and Cell Adhesion within Moving Boundary Cancer Invasion.Bulletin of mathematical biology · 2019Article
- Nephrin Signaling Results in IntegrinJournal of the American Society of Nephrology : JASN · 2019Article
- Matrix biomechanics and dynamics in pulmonary fibrosis.Matrix biology : journal of the International Society for Matrix Biology · 2018Review
- Perspective: Biophysical regulation of cancerous and normal blood cell lineages in hematopoietic malignancies.APL bioengineering · 2018Article
- Emerging roles for LPP in metastatic cancer progression.Journal of cell communication and signaling · 2018Review
- Maturation State and Matrix Microstructure Regulate Interstitial Cell Migration in Dense Connective Tissues.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- Stiff Substrates Increase Inflammation-Induced Endothelial Monolayer Tension and Permeability.Biophysical journal · 2017Article
- Different TCR-induced T lymphocyte responses are potentiated by stiffness with variable sensitivity.eLife · 2017Article
- LPP is a Src substrate required for invadopodia formation and efficient breast cancer lung metastasis.Nature communications · 2017Article
- Modeling nasopharyngeal carcinoma in three dimensions.Oncology letters · 2017Article
- Tumour-suppressor microRNAs regulate ovarian cancer cell physical properties and invasive behaviour.Open biology · 2016Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Directional mesenchymal cell invasion in vivo is understood to be a stimulated event and to be regulated by cytokines, chemokines, and types of extracellular matrix (ECM). Instead, by focusing on the cellular response to ECM stiffness, we found that soft ECM (low stiffness) itself is sufficient to prevent stable cell-to-cell adherens junction formation, up-regulate matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) secretion, promote MMP activity, and induce invadosome-like protrusion (ILP) formation. Consistently, similar ILP formation was also detected in a three-dimensional directional invasion assay in soft matrix. Primary human fibroblasts spontaneously form ILPs in a very narrow range of ECM stiffness (0.1-0.4 kPa), and such ILP formation is Src family kinase dependent. In contrast, spontaneous ILP formation in malignant cancer cells and fibrosarcoma cells occurs across a much wider range of ECM stiffness, and these tumor cell ILPs are also more prominent at lower stiffness. These findings suggest that ECM softness is a natural stimulator for cellular invasiveness.
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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.