Microchannel Stiffness and Confinement Jointly Induce the Mesenchymal-Amoeboid Transition of Cancer Cell Migration

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b01597
• Publication Date: 2019-08-15T14:24:31Z
• Authors: Meng Wang; Bo Cheng; Yaowei Yang; Han Liu; Guoyou Huang; Lichun Han; Fei Li; Feng Xu
• Keywords: Microchannel

The physical confinement of cell microenvironment could enhance the invasive capability and drug resistance cancer cells. However, due to lack in vitro experimental platform mimic both stiffness tumor microenvironment, underlying mechanism remains elusive. Here, we developed a hydrogel-based microchannel with independently tunable channel width physiological range. We found that migration speed is influenced by synergistic effect width. In addition, mesenchymal-amoeboid transition has strong correlation stiffness. Besides, computational model, role nuclear on thus microchannels was also revealed. This capable mimicking native during metastasis, providing powerful tool for high-throughput screening applications investigating interaction between biophysical microenvironment.