Dresden 2020 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 13: Cell Mechanics I
BP 13.7: Talk
Tuesday, March 17, 2020, 11:45–12:00, SCH A251
The dynamics of burst-like collective migration in 3D cancer spheroids — •Swetha Raghuraman1, Fatemeh Abbasi1, Raphael Wittkowski2, and Timo Betz1 — 1Institute of Cell Biology, ZMBE, Münster, Germany — 2Center for Soft Nanoscience
Collective migration of cells is a striking behavior observed during morphogenesis, wound healing and cancer cell invasion. Spherical aggregates of cells are known to migrate in 3D matrices like collagen, matrigel or fibronectin in-vitro. Although biochemical signaling is the main research focus, the biophysical properties of the spheroid leading to an invasion is less explored. We observe a striking phenotypical difference when HeLa cervical cancer spheroids were embedded in different concentrations of collagen I matrices. HeLa spheroids in lower collagen concentration (LCC) 0.5 mg/ml, displayed an explosion invasion-like behavior within 6 hours, while those in higher collagen concentration (HCC) 2.5 mg/ml were consistently growing over 48 hours, without any invasion like behavior. The migration dynamics of cells in HCC were more fluid-like with lower velocity as compared to the burst-like phenotype in LCC, which showed higher velocity and super diffusive characteristics. We hypothesize that in LCC, spheroids generate an increased surface tension due to a force imbalance. Exceeding a critical tension, the spheroid ruptures, which leads to a pushing of cells into the matrix. We believe that such mechanical interplay can pave the way to understand migration behavior of cancer cells with respect to their biophysical properties.