ArticleNature materials2022
Directed cell migration towards softer environments.
Article in Nature materials, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 106 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
106 citing papers in PubMed.
- Transient Cytoskeletal Anisotropy Encodes Short-Term Mechanical Memory in Glioblastoma Cells.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Simple fabrication method for cancer cell migration studies on biomimetic substrates with tunable stiffness.Materials today. Bio · 2026Article
- Matrix Stiffness Directs Stemness Signatures in Breast Cancer.Advanced healthcare materials · 2026Article
- Computational insights on the interplay between electrotaxis and mechanotaxis.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- IQGAP3 bridges matrix stiffness with glioma stem cell maintenance and radioresistance by stabilizing SOX2.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Drug resistant cancer cells show increased nuclear mechanotransduction and mechanically targetable YAP-regulated vulnerability.Biomaterials · 2026Article
- Microengineered Gradient Hydrogels for Mechanobiology.Advanced healthcare materials · 2026Review
- A 3D model to evaluate cell chemotaxis within a heterogenic tumor microenvironment.Lab on a chip · 2026Article
- Restoring the tumour mechanophenotype of vocal fold cancer reverts its malignant properties.Nature materials · 2026Article
- Fluorescently Labeled Gradient Hydrogels Reveal Matrix-Dependent Cell Responses to Substrate Stiffness.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Article
- Physiomimetic culture bias durotaxis toward soft environments.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Double Sided Traction Force Microscopy: A Method to Confine Cells for Physiologically Relevant Force Measurements.Cytoskeleton (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2026Article
- miR-185-5p Derived From hUC-MSC Exosomes via Suspension Culture Under Hypoxic Conditions Promotes Scarless Wound Healing in Mice by Precisely Regulating Collagen I/III Regeneration.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Regulation of cell dynamics by rapid integrin transport through the biosynthetic pathway.The Journal of cell biology · 2026Article
- Mapping Collective Forces of Lung Cancer Spheroids Using Traction Force Microscopy.Biotechnology and bioengineering · 2026Article
- Neuromechanobiology: Bridging Mechanobiology and Neuroscience Through Evidence and Open Questions.Cells · 2026Review
- Migration of co-cultured endothelial and smooth muscle cells on material surfaces.Regenerative biomaterials · 2026Article
- Models of Cellular Mechanosensation.Results and problems in cell differentiation · 2026Review
- Mechanobiology of hippocampal neurogenesis: directing neural stem cell fate through physical cues.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2026Review
- Integrin-Mediated Mechanosensing of Modeled Lymph Node Microenvironment Promotes T Cell Activation via Nuclear Deformation.Research (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Article
46 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
16 authors.
Funding
Abstract
How cells sense tissue stiffness to guide cell migration is a fundamental question in development, fibrosis and cancer. Although durotaxis-cell migration towards increasing substrate stiffness-is well established, it remains unknown whether individual cells can migrate towards softer environments. Here, using microfabricated stiffness gradients, we describe the directed migration of U-251MG glioma cells towards less stiff regions. This 'negative durotaxis' does not coincide with changes in canonical mechanosensitive signalling or actomyosin contractility. Instead, as predicted by the motor-clutch-based model, migration occurs towards areas of 'optimal stiffness', where cells can generate maximal traction. In agreement with this model, negative durotaxis is selectively disrupted and even reversed by the partial inhibition of actomyosin contractility. Conversely, positive durotaxis can be switched to negative by lowering the optimal stiffness by the downregulation of talin-a key clutch component. Our results identify the molecular mechanism driving context-dependent positive or negative durotaxis, determined by a cell's contractile and adhesive machinery.
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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.