ArticleOncotarget2015
Mechanical phenotype of cancer cells: cell softening and loss of stiffness sensing.
Article in Oncotarget, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 88 papers.
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Who cites it
88 citing papers in PubMed, 186 citations in OpenAlex.
- Actin conformation dynamics precede force generation in cytotoxic T lymphocytes.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Revealing biomechanical vulnerabilities in oral cancer cells using 3D coculture platform and low-frequency ultrasound.Materials today. Bio · 2026Article
- High-throughput mechanomic screening reveals novel regulators of single-cell mechanics.Biophysical journal · 2026Article
- Injectable antifibrotic drug-loaded hydrogels reduce fibrosis and restore myogenesis by enhancing mitochondrial metabolism and cell mechanics in an in vitro coculture model.Materials today. Bio · 2026Article
- Oncogene-Mechanics Axis: KRAS G12C Confers Agility Enabling Malignant Mechano-responses to Peristalsis in Colorectal Cancer.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Cell Mechanics in Cancer: Integrating Mechanotransduction Pathways Within the Tumor Microenvironment.Journal of cellular physiology · 2026Review
- Cytoskeleton reorganization induced by a novel K6-K14 keratin fusion promotes cancer stemness and cellular plasticity via cGAS-STING selection.Oncogenesis · 2026Article
- Nanosecond pulsed electric fields induce cell-size-dependent selective permeabilization of urothelial cancer cells.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Nuclear destabilisation - a possible genesis of cancer?Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- Physical traits of supercompetitors in cell competition.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
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- Nanomechanical characterization of soft nanomaterial using atomic force microscopy.Materials today. Bio · 2025Review
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- Biomechanics in the tumor microenvironment: from biological functions to potential clinical applications.Experimental hematology & oncology · 2025Review
- Tissue-dependent mechanosensing by cells derived from human tumors.npj biological physics and mechanics · 2025Article
- Mechanical stiffness across skin layers in human: a pilot study.Tissue barriers · 2025Article
- Insights into the mechanobiology of cancer metastasis via microfluidic technologies.APL bioengineering · 2024Review
- Mechanical properties of human tumour tissues and their implications for cancer development.Nature reviews. Physics · 2024Article
- Tension-induced adhesion mode switching: the interplay between focal adhesions and clathrin-containing adhesion complexes.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Phenotypic Heterogeneity, Bidirectionality, Universal Cues, Plasticity, Mechanics, and the Tumor Microenvironment Drive Cancer Metastasis.Biomolecules · 2024Review
28 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
11 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The stiffness sensing ability is required to respond to the stiffness of the matrix. Here we determined whether normal cells and cancer cells display distinct mechanical phenotypes. Cancer cells were softer than their normal counterparts, regardless of the type of cancer (breast, bladder, cervix, pancreas, or Ha-RasV12-transformed cells). When cultured on matrices of varying stiffness, low stiffness decreased proliferation in normal cells, while cancer cells and transformed cells lost this response. Thus, cancer cells undergo a change in their mechanical phenotype that includes cell softening and loss of stiffness sensing. Caveolin-1, which is suppressed in many tumor cells and in oncogene-transformed cells, regulates the mechanical phenotype. Caveolin-1-upregulated RhoA activity and Y397FAK phosphorylation directed actin cap formation, which was positively correlated with cell elasticity and stiffness sensing in fibroblasts. Ha-RasV12-induced transformation and changes in the mechanical phenotypes were reversed by re-expression of caveolin-1 and mimicked by the suppression of caveolin-1 in normal fibroblasts. This is the first study to describe this novel role for caveolin-1, linking mechanical phenotype to cell transformation. Furthermore, mechanical characteristics may serve as biomarkers for cell transformation.
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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.