Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33990789›Full record

ReviewNature reviews. Molecular cell biology2021

The principles of directed cell migration.

Shuvasree SenGupta, Carole A Parent, James E Bear

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 330 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
330citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

330 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Evaluation of Nile Tilapia (ACS biomaterials science & engineering · 2026
    Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Article
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  6. Review
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  15. Emerging Roles of Cytoneme-Mediated Signaling in Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026
    Review
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article

270 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Shuvasree SenGuptaDepartment of Pharmacology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Carole A ParentDepartment of Pharmacology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
James E BearUNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. jbear@email.unc.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8489-996X

Funding

Systematic Analysis of the Actin Cytoskeleton and Directed Cell MigrationR35GM130312 · NIGMS · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI JAMES E BEAR · 2019 to 2026
$4.8M
Multiscale Modeling of Wound HealingU01EB018816 · NIBIB · NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY RALEIGH · PI HAUGH, JASON M. · 2014 to 2021
$4.0M
Signal relay during directed cell migrationR01AI152517 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · PI HANSON, PHYLLIS I, PARENT, CAROLE ANNE · 2020 to 2024
$2.6M
NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI152517NIBIB NIH HHS U01 EB018816NIGMS NIH HHS R35 GM130312
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Cells have the ability to respond to various types of environmental cues, and in many cases these cues induce directed cell migration towards or away from these signals. How cells sense these cues and how they transmit that information to the cytoskeletal machinery governing cell translocation is one of the oldest and most challenging problems in biology. Chemotaxis, or migration towards diffusible chemical cues, has been studied for more than a century, but information is just now beginning to emerge about how cells respond to other cues, such as substrate-associated cues during haptotaxis (chemical cues on the surface), durotaxis (mechanical substrate compliance) and topotaxis (geometric features of substrate). Here we propose four common principles, or pillars, that underlie all forms of directed migration. First, a signal must be generated, a process that in physiological environments is much more nuanced than early studies suggested. Second, the signal must be sensed, sometimes by cell surface receptors, but also in ways that are not entirely clear, such as in the case of mechanical cues. Third, the signal has to be transmitted from the sensing modules to the machinery that executes the actual movement, a step that often requires amplification. Fourth, the signal has to be converted into the application of asymmetric force relative to the substrate, which involves mostly the cytoskeleton, but perhaps other players as well. Use of these four pillars has allowed us to compare some of the similarities between different types of directed migration, but also to highlight the remarkable diversity in the mechanisms that cells use to respond to different cues provided by their environment.

Indexed as

AnimalsCell MovementCell PolarityChemotaxisCytoskeletonHumansSignal Transduction

Identifiers

PMID33990789
PMCPMC8663916

What OpenQuestion holds

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Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.