ArticleMolecular biology of the cell2018
Cancer cells' ability to mechanically adjust to extracellular matrix stiffness correlates with their invasive potential.
Article in Molecular biology of the cell, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 150 papers.
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Who cites it
150 citing papers in PubMed, 256 citations in OpenAlex.
- T cells are blind to the dark mechanics of tumors.Trends open · 2026Review
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- Ovarian Extracellular Matrix Mechanics Regulate Oocyte-Follicle Interactions During Female Reproductive Aging.Aging cell · 2026Article
- The role of ECM mechanics in cancer mechanotransduction through unraveling the molecular machinery of integrins, FAK, and YAP signaling.Cellular & molecular biology letters · 2026Review
- LOX Inhibition Disrupts a Collagen-Integrin-MYC Axis to Suppress Progression of Invasive Lobular Carcinoma.Cancer research · 2026Article
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- The role of pulsed electric field therapy in non-small cell lung cancer: a narrative review of a novel minimally invasive intervention.Journal of thoracic disease · 2026Review
- Visualisation of magnetic field-induced nanoparticle clusters and mechanical property changes in a breast phantom for inductive moderate hyperthermia.Biomedical engineering online · 2026Article
- [Research advances of magnetic resonance elastography for assessing the bioinvasiveness in hepatocellular carcinoma].Zhonghua gan zang bing za zhi = Zhonghua ganzangbing zazhi = Chinese journal of hepatology · 2026Review
- Sp1 mechanotransduction regulates breast cancer cell invasion in engineered viscoelastic extracellular matrices.Biomaterials · 2026Article
- Mechanotherapeutic Potential of Survivin in Glioblastoma.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The Interplay Between Circadian Clocks and the Tumour Microenvironment in Breast Cancer.Cancers · 2026Review
- Mechanical Stiffening Promotes Growth, Invasion, and Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinase (MEK) Inhibitor Resistance in 3D Plexiform Neurofibroma Cultures.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The role of the tumor microenvironment in drug resistance acquisition in lung squamous cell carcinoma.Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR · 2026Review
- 3D environment favors persistent changes in cell functions and altered morphology, wrinkling, and biomechanical signature of the nucleus.Cell reports. Physical science · 2026Article
- Developing virtual physiology of human tumor tissue for malignancy assessment.NPJ precision oncology · 2026Article
- Aquaporin-1, aquaporin-3 and aquaporin-5 differentially modulate cell biophysical and biomechanical properties, impacting cell stiffness and cell-cell adhesion.The FEBS journal · 2026Article
- A stiffness-gated YAP-β-catenin axis orchestrates AXIN2 expression in metastatic breast cancer.iScience · 2026Article
- Differential AXL expression and Arf1 regulation control stiffness-dependent Golgi organization in breast cancer cells.Journal of cell science · 2026Article
90 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Increased tissue stiffness is a classic characteristic of solid tumors. One of the major contributing factors is increased density of collagen fibers in the extracellular matrix (ECM). Here, we investigate how cancer cells biomechanically interact with and respond to the stiffness of the ECM. Probing the adaptability of cancer cells to altered ECM stiffness using optical tweezers-based microrheology and deformability cytometry, we find that only malignant cancer cells have the ability to adjust to collagen matrices of different densities. Employing microrheology on the biologically relevant spheroid invasion assay, we can furthermore demonstrate that, even within a cluster of cells of similar origin, there are differences in the intracellular biomechanical properties dependent on the cells' invasive behavior. We reveal a consistent increase of viscosity in cancer cells leading the invasion into the collagen matrices in comparison with cancer cells following in the stalk or remaining in the center of the spheroid. We hypothesize that this differential viscoelasticity might facilitate spheroid tip invasion through a dense matrix. These findings highlight the importance of the biomechanical interplay between cells and their microenvironment for tumor progression.
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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.