Completing the perspectives on cell migration with mechanobiology

Cell migration is important for processes such as organ development, wound healing, and cancer metastasis. Cells can move using a range of mechanisms — by protruding and retracting their membrane, constructing and disrupting the bonds between protein and substrates, and more. Chemical and mechanical environmental cues as well as cell type also drive cell motility.

While traditional biology primarily investigates chemically driven responses in open spaces, the emerging field of mechanobiology addresses the internal changes of cells in confined spaces. After all, human bodies are very different from the culture dishes used in experiments. To depict a more realistic model of cell migration, Kim et al. conducted a comprehensive review of the effects of physical stress on cells.

“There have been a number of studies regarding cell migration, particularly in 3D compact space because it is important in most biological events,” said author Dong-Hwee Kim. “While there has been increasing interest in the nuclear physics of motile cells, there has been a missing bridge between nuclear mechanics and confined cell migration, which we believe is the most realistic and in-vivo relevant cellular migration.”

The authors discussed cell movement in confined spaces, delving into how elevated mechanical compression can alter cellular processes such as damage repair cycles, leading to modulation of disease progression. They plan to continue investigating how mechanical stimuli can drive cancer.

“The risk factor of the cancer is determined by how these cells could metastasize from the original organ to a remote organ. This step necessarily involves nuclear deformation during cell migration,” said Kim. “In the future, we will be looking at how nuclear mechanics regulate cancer metastasis.”

Source: “Subcellular mechano-regulation of cell migration in confined extracellular microenvironment,” by Daesan Kim and Dong-Hwee Kim, Biophysics Reviews (2023). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0185377 .