Regensburg 2019 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 18: Cell mechanics II

BP 18.2: Vortrag

Mittwoch, 3. April 2019, 15:15–15:30, H10

Investigating cancer cell behaviour during migration through a confining microenvironment — •Carlotta Ficorella — University of Leipzig, Linnéstraße 5, 04103 Leipzig, Germany

The extra-cellular microenvironment plays a fundamental role in tumour growth and progression, strongly affecting the migration strategies adopted by single cancer cells during metastatic invasion. Here we use a novel microfluidic device to investigate the ability of mesenchymal and epithelial breast tumour cells to migrate through quasi-three-dimensional narrowing microstructures upon chemoattractant stimulation.

Our results show that both epithelial and invasive cells are able to easily disassemble and rearrange their cytoskeleton, in order to achieve migration through the constriction openings. Metastatic mesenchymal cells, on the other hand, exhibit no invasive behaviour. We also demonstrate that migration of epithelial cells through a highly compressive environment can occur in absence of a chemoattractive stimulus, thus suggesting that they are just as prone to react to mechanical cues as invasive cells.