News & Views |
Featured
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Article |
Cell volume expansion and local contractility drive collective invasion of the basement membrane in breast cancer
Forces resulting from global cell volume expansion and local cell contractions distort the basement membrane of an in vitro three-dimensional model of breast cancer, to promote collective cell invasion that precedes metastasis.
- Julie Chang
- , Aashrith Saraswathibhatla
- & Ovijit Chaudhuri
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Article |
The exit of nanoparticles from solid tumours
Nanoparticle retention inside tumours has been associated with lymphatic vessel collapse. It is now shown that nanoparticles exit from solid tumours through lymphatic vessels in or surrounding the tumour by a nanoparticle-size-dependent mechanism.
- Luan N. M. Nguyen
- , Zachary P. Lin
- & Warren C. W. Chan
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News & Views |
A synthetic tumour microenvironment
A bioengineered model incorporating a synthetic extracellular matrix recapitulates the lymphoid tumour microenvironment, making it a valuable tool for drug testing and designing personalized therapies.
- Akhilesh K. Gaharwar
- & Irtisha Singh
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News & Views |
A ‘Swiss army knife’ probe for metastatic cancers
A nanosensor probe that combines a tumour-targeting peptide, a diagnostic reporter and an imaging contrast agent enables early diagnosis, precision imaging, disease stratification and downstream therapeutic response monitoring of metastatic cancer.
- Matthew Bogyo
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Article |
A microenvironment-inspired synthetic three-dimensional model for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma organoids
A synthetic hydrogel has been developed to mimic the physicochemical properties of pancreatic tissue and is shown to support the culture of pancreatic cancer organoids, revealing the role of laminin–integrin interactions in their growth.
- Christopher R. Below
- , Joanna Kelly
- & Claus Jørgensen
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Review Article |
Next-generation cancer organoids
This Review summarizes limitations in the current techniques used for patient-derived cancer organoid culture and highlights recent advancements and future opportunities for their standardization.
- Bauer L. LeSavage
- , Riley A. Suhar
- & Sarah C. Heilshorn
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News & Views |
Netrin-4 regulates stiffness and metastasis
The stiffness of the basement membrane is a determinant of the process of metastasis and patient survival. Netrin-4 is now shown to be a key regulator of the basement membrane stiffness.
- Patrick Mehlen
- & Laurent Fattet
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Article |
Basement membrane stiffness determines metastases formation
The basement membrane stiffness is shown to be a more dominant determinant than pore size in regulating cancer cell invasion, metastasis formation and patient survival. This stiffness is now known to be affected by the ratio of netrin-4 to laminin, with more netrin-4 leading to softer basement membranes.
- Raphael Reuten
- , Sina Zendehroud
- & Janine T. Erler
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Article |
Tumour-associated macrophages drive stromal cell-dependent collagen crosslinking and stiffening to promote breast cancer aggression
It is now shown that tumour-associated macrophages recruited early during tumour evolution stimulate stromal fibroblasts to express collagen crosslinking enzymes and that the stromal expression, particularly of lysyl hydroxylase 2, can predict survival in a patient cohort.
- Ori Maller
- , Allison P. Drain
- & Valerie M. Weaver
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News & Views |
Oncogenetic engagement with mechanosensing
Reprogramming normal cells into tumour precursors involves complex reconditioning of the tissue microenvironment. Cumulative integration of genetic drivers with extrinsic mechanical inputs is now shown to engage YAP/TAZ to rewire cell mechanics and initiate tumorigenic reprogramming.
- Sayan Chakraborty
- & Wanjin Hong
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Article |
Reprogramming normal cells into tumour precursors requires ECM stiffness and oncogene-mediated changes of cell mechanical properties
Receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK)–Ras oncogenes have now been shown to reprogram normal primary human and mouse cells into tumour precursors by empowering cellular mechanotransduction, in a process requiring permissive extracellular-matrix rigidity and intracellular YAP/TAZ/Rac mechanical signalling sustained by activated oncogenes.
- Tito Panciera
- , Anna Citron
- & Stefano Piccolo
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News & Views |
Life and death agendas of actin filaments
Cancer cells have now been shown to lack rigidity-sensing due to alteration in cytoskeletal sensor proteins, but can be reversed from a transformed to a rigidity-dependent growth state by the sensor proteins, resulting in restoration of contractility and adhesion.
- Edna C. Hardeman
- & Peter W. Gunning
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News & Views |
Bringing order to the matrix
Aligned anisotropic organization of the extracellular matrix by fibroblasts has now been shown to depend on cell reorientation following collision, with the cell collision guidance dependent on the transcription factor, TFAP2C.
- Paolo P. Provenzano
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Article |
The entry of nanoparticles into solid tumours
The dominant mechanism of nanoparticle entry into solid tumours has now been shown to be an active trans-endothelial pathway rather than the currently established passive transport via inter-endothelial gaps.
- Shrey Sindhwani
- , Abdullah Muhammad Syed
- & Warren C. W. Chan
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News & Views |
Stemness shaped by curvature
Substrates with curved edges induce the reprogramming of cancer cells into a stem-cell-like phenotype.
- Bettina Weigelin
- & Peter Friedl
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Letter |
Interfacial geometry dictates cancer cell tumorigenicity
Experiments with engineered hydrogels show that the geometry of the interface at the perimeter of tumour tissue can guide cancer cells towards a stem-cell-like state.
- Junmin Lee
- , Amr A. Abdeen
- & Kristopher A. Kilian
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News & Views |
Roll-on scaffolds
A spool-and-ribbon cell-culture approach provides quick and easy access to the interior of engineered tumours for the analysis of cell responses to molecular gradients.
- Peter DelNero
- & Claudia Fischbach
A thicker skin for better immune evasion