ArticleMolecular biology of the cell2023
Cell contractility drives mechanical memory of oral squamous cell carcinoma.
Article in Molecular biology of the cell, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mechanical regulation of cell memory.Nature structural & molecular biology · 2026Review
- From force to fate: Implications of mechanomemory in lung disease.Respiratory research · 2026Review
- Decoupling Mechanical Confinement and Fibrotic Extracellular Matrix Signaling in Vestibular Schwannoma Using Tunable 3D Hydrogels.Cellular and molecular bioengineering · 2026Article
- Compressive stress-driven Piezo1 activation and Rho-ROCK mechanotransduction promote tumor progression via epigenetic mechanical memory.Science advances · 2026Article
- Cytoskeletal prestress homeostasis is a biological principle that governs living cell structure and function.Mechanobiology in medicine · 2026Review
- Extracellular matrix stiffness conditions glioblastoma cells for long-term migration: Mechanical memory as a driver of invasion and recurrence in glioblastoma.Neuro-oncology · 2026Review
- Stiffness-mediated paracrine signaling enhances induction of EMT in oral squamous cell carcinoma.APL bioengineering · 2025Article
- Review
- Applying physical principles to cancer research.APL bioengineering · 2025Article
- Cellular mechanical memory: a potential tool for mesenchymal stem cell-based therapy.Stem cell research & therapy · 2025Review
- Forcing the code: tension modulates signaling to drive morphogenesis and malignancy.Genes & development · 2025Review
- Genetic variation drives cancer cell adaptation to ECM stiffness.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- A high throughput cell stretch device for investigating mechanobiologyAPL bioengineering · 2024Article
- Engineering approaches for understanding mechanical memory in cancer metastasis.APL bioengineering · 2024Review
- Survival-Associated Cellular Response Maintained in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) Switched Between Soft and Stiff 3D Microgel Culture.ACS biomaterials science & engineering · 2024Article
- Advances in cancer mechanobiology: Metastasis, mechanics, and materials.APL bioengineering · 2024Review
- Implications of Cellular Mechanical Memory in Bioengineering.ACS biomaterials science & engineering · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Matrix stiffening is ubiquitous in solid tumors and can direct epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer cell migration. Stiffened niche can even cause poorly invasive oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cell lines to acquire a less adherent, more migratory phenotype, but mechanisms and durability of this acquired "mechanical memory" are unclear. Here, we observed that contractility and its downstream signals could underlie memory acquisition; invasive SSC25 cells overexpress myosin II (vs. noninvasive Cal27 cells) consistent with OSCC. However, prolonged exposure of Cal27 cells to a stiff niche or contractile agonists up-regulated myosin and EMT markers and enabled them to migrate as fast as SCC25 cells, which persisted even when the niche softened and indicated "memory" of their prior niche. Stiffness-mediated mesenchymal phenotype acquisition required AKT signaling and was also observed in patient samples, whereas phenotype recall on soft substrates required focal adhesion kinase (FAK) activity. Phenotype durability was further observed in transcriptomic differences between preconditioned Cal27 cells cultured without or with FAK or AKT antagonists, and such transcriptional differences corresponded to discrepant patient outcomes. These data suggest that mechanical memory, mediated by contractility via distinct kinase signaling, may be necessary for OSCC to disseminate.
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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.