Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40410903›Full record

ArticleEuropean journal of medical research2025

Matrix stiffness enhances viability, migration, invasion and invadopodia formation of oral cancer cells via PI3K/AKT pathway in vitro.

Zihao Zhang, Jiayi Ren, Ke Tang, Xinyi Hu, Jinhui Liu, Chunming Li

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Article in European journal of medical research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–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

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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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

6 authors.

Zihao ZhangDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, 150000, China.
Jiayi RenDepartment of Clinical Medicine, Harbin Medical University ("5+3" Integration), Harbin, 150000, China.
Ke TangCollege of Pharmacy, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, 150000, China.
Xinyi HuDepartment of General Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116021, China.
Jinhui LiuDepartment of Prosthodontics, Dalian Stomatological Hospital, Dalian, 151600, China.
Chunming LiDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, 150000, China. a138686@correo.umm.edu.mx.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundOral cancer (OC) is one of the major types of cancer and the most common cause of cancer-related mortality in Asia. In recent years, matrix stiffness in the tumor microenvironment has been found to play an important role in regulating tumor cell behavior. However, the regulatory mechanisms associated with matrix stiffness in OC cells remain unclear.

methodsIn this study, polyacrylamide gels with different stiffness were prepared to simulate low versus high matrix stiffness environments in tumor tissues by adjusting the acrylamide and cross-linker concentrations. Subsequently, the effects of different stiffness on OC cell survival, migration, invasion and invadopodia formation were explored based on cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), Transwell and confocal microscopy. Meanwhile, the levels of markers relevant to phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT), apoptosis (BAX and BCL2) as well as metastasis (Cadherin-1, CDH1; Cadherin-2, and CDH2) were calculated via western blotting and real-time quantitative PCR.

resultsAccording to the results, high matrix stiffness was seen to contribute to the increased number of migrated and invaded cells as well as the enhanced viability of OC cells, along with the aggravated invadopodia formation and the up-regulation in CDH2 and BCL2 levels yet the down-regulation in CDH1 and BAX levels. Elevated PI3K/AKT phosphorylation levels were also seen in high matrix stiffness-mediated OC cells, and the intervention using LY294002 could visibly overturned the effects of high matrix stiffness on the cell migration, invasion and invadopodia formation of OC cells.

conclusionsThis study reveals that matrix stiffness may enhance the invasiveness and anti-apoptotic ability of OC cells by activating the PI3K/AKT pathway, which provides a new idea for exploring the microenvironmental regulation of tumor mechanics and targeted intervention strategies.

Indexed as

Extracellular MatrixMouth NeoplasmsPhosphatidylinositol 3-KinasesPodosomesProto-Oncogene Proteins c-aktApoptosisCell Line, TumorCell MovementCell SurvivalHumansNeoplasm InvasivenessSignal TransductionTumor MicroenvironmentPhosphatidylinositol 3-KinasesProto-Oncogene Proteins c-aktInvadopodiaMatrix stiffnessMetastasisOral cancerPI3K/AKT pathway

Identifiers

PMID40410903
PMCPMC12103043

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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.