Shifting the optimal stiffness for cell migration

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 8; no. 1; p. 15313
• Main Authors: Bangasser, Benjamin L., Shamsan, Ghaidan A., Chan, Clarence E., Opoku, Kwaku N., Tüzel, Erkan, Schlichtmann, Benjamin W., Kasim, Jesse A., Fuller, Benjamin J., McCullough, Brannon R., Rosenfeld, Steven S., Odde, David J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 22-05-2017; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 13/106; 14/35; 14/63; 38/39; 631/57/2266; 631/57/343/1361; 631/67/327; 631/80/84/750; Actin Cytoskeleton - metabolism; Actins - metabolism; Algorithms; Animals; Brain cancer; Cell Adhesion; Cell adhesion & migration; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Movement; Chick Embryo; Collagen - chemistry; Disease Progression; Elastic Modulus; Glioma - pathology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Integrins - metabolism; Mice; Models, Biological; Models, Statistical; Morphology; multidisciplinary; Myosin Type II - metabolism; Neurons - cytology; Prosencephalon - pathology; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); United States > US
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15313

Cell migration, which is central to many biological processes including wound healing and cancer progression, is sensitive to environmental stiffness, and many cell types exhibit a stiffness optimum, at which migration is maximal. Here we present a cell migration simulator that predicts a stiffness optimum that can be shifted by altering the number of active molecular motors and clutches. This prediction is verified experimentally by comparing cell traction and F-actin retrograde flow for two cell types with differing amounts of active motors and clutches: embryonic chick forebrain neurons (ECFNs; optimum ∼1 kPa) and U251 glioma cells (optimum ∼100 kPa). In addition, the model predicts, and experiments confirm, that the stiffness optimum of U251 glioma cell migration, morphology and F-actin retrograde flow rate can be shifted to lower stiffness by simultaneous drug inhibition of myosin II motors and integrin-mediated adhesions.
Cell migration is sensitive to environmental stiffness, but how cells sense optimal stiffness is not known. Here the authors develop a model that predicts that the optimum can be shifted by altering the number of active molecular motors and clutches, and verify their model in two cell types.