Highlighting the role of survivin in arterial cell migration

Arteries tend to get stiffer with age, or as a consequence of arteriosclerosis, which can lead to cardiovascular diseases. Arterial stiffness causes vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), which comprise the majority of the interior of arterial walls, to migrate toward the inner wall, constricting the arteries. While this migration is well documented, the mechanisms governing it are not well understood.

Mousso et al. studied the migration response of VSMCs to surfaces of varying stiffness, along with the role of the protein survivin. Previous studies showed VSMCs produce more survivin when grown on stiff hydrogels, leading the authors to suspect they played a role in cell migration.

To test their theory, the team grew VSMCs on both soft and stiff hydrogels, finding that the cells migrated more on the stiff surface. They then inhibited survivin expression on the stiff hydrogels, and overexpressed survivin on soft hydrogels. They found that VSMCs migrate more when survivin is present, and less when it is absent.

“This is the first time that survivin has been shown to regulate stiffness-dependent VSMC migration, alluding to its role in enhancing migration in diseased arteries,” said author Thomas Mousso.

The authors hope their discovery will spur the development of new medications and therapeutic techniques to reduce or reverse the migration of VSMCs due to arterial stiffness. They will continue their work to better understand the role of survivin in this process.

“We plan to further determine the underlying molecular mechanisms that govern survivin’s ability to regulate stiffness-dependent VSMC migration, with the potential to find a novel therapeutic,” said Mousso.

Source: “Survivin modulates stiffness-induced vascular smooth muscle cell motility,” by Thomas Mousso, Kalina Rice, Bat-Ider Tumenbayar, Khanh Pham, Yuna Heo, Su Chin Heo, Kwonmoo Lee, Andrew T Lombardo, and Yongho Bae, APL Bioengineering (2025). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0252766 .

This paper is part of the Mechanomedicine Collection, learn more here .