ArticleNature materials2016
Directed migration of cancer cells guided by the graded texture of the underlying matrix.
Article in Nature materials, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 74 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
74 citing papers in PubMed, 201 citations in OpenAlex.
- Interactions Between Active Matters and Endogenous Fields.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2025Review
- Cellular Responses to Nanoscale Topography Mediated Through the RhoA/ROCK Pathway.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2025Article
- Article
- Probing the physical hallmarks of cancer.Nature methods · 2025Review
- Extracellular Matrix Topography Drives Adrenergic to Mesenchymal Transition in Neuroblastoma.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2025Article
- Engineering multifunctional surface topography to regulate multiple biological responses.Biomaterials · 2025Review
- High-Throughput 96-Well Nanogroove-Enhanced Electrical Impedance Biosensor for Real-Time Label-Free Cancer Drug Screening.Advanced healthcare materials · 2025Article
- Micropillars in Cell Mechanobiology: Design, Fabrication, Characterization, and Biosensing Applications.Small science · 2025Review
- Cellular Signaling at the Nano-Bio Interface: Spotlighting Membrane Curvature.Annual review of physical chemistry · 2025Review
- Trade-off movement between hydraulic resistance escape and shear stress escape by cancer cells.Biophysical journal · 2025Article
- Elastic interactions compete with persistent cell motility to drive durotaxis.Biophysical journal · 2024Article
- Extracellular Matrix Components and Mechanosensing Pathways in Health and Disease.Biomolecules · 2024Review
- Microtopography-Induced Nuclear Deformation Triggers Chromatin Reorganization and Cytoskeleton Remodeling.Chemical & biomedical imaging · 2024Article
- 3D Traction Force Microscopy in Biological Gels: From Single Cells to Multicellular Spheroids.Annual review of biomedical engineering · 2024Review
- Biomimetic Hydrogel Strategies for Cancer Therapy.Gels (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Surface Deformation of Biocompatible Materials: Recent Advances in Biological Applications.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- A Hierarchical Mechanotransduction System: From Macro to Micro.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2024Review
- Biophysical interplay between extracellular matrix remodeling and hypoxia signaling in regulating cancer metastasis.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2024Review
- Subcellular mechano-regulation of cell migration in confined extracellular microenvironment.Biophysics reviews · 2023Review
- Disturbing cytoskeleton by engineered nanomaterials for enhanced cancer therapeutics.Bioactive materials · 2023Review
14 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
9 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Living cells and the extracellular matrix (ECM) can exhibit complex interactions that define key developmental, physiological and pathological processes. Here, we report a new type of directed migration-which we term 'topotaxis'-guided by the gradient of the nanoscale topographic features in the cells' ECM environment. We show that the direction of topotaxis is reflective of the effective cell stiffness, and that it depends on the balance of the ECM-triggered signalling pathways PI(3)K-Akt and ROCK-MLCK. In melanoma cancer cells, this balance can be altered by different ECM inputs, pharmacological perturbations or genetic alterations, particularly a loss of PTEN in aggressive melanoma cells. We conclude that topotaxis is a product of the material properties of cells and the surrounding ECM, and propose that the invasive capacity of many cancers may depend broadly on topotactic responses, providing a potentially attractive mechanism for controlling invasive and metastatic behaviour.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.