Introduction to soft matter aspects of cancer
Anna Taubenberger and Tanmay Lele introduce the Soft Matter themed issue on soft matter aspects of cancer.
Materials-driven approaches to understand extrinsic drug resistance in cancer
This perspective describes the systems biology and controllable microenvironment tools needed to de-convolve and parse a crowded network of signals and responses necessary to interrogate the high dimensional interactions governing drug resistance in patients.
Review Article
Towards an integrative understanding of cancer mechanobiology: calcium, YAP, and microRNA under biophysical forces
Increasingly the significant roles of the interplay between tissue microenvironmental mechanics and cellular biochemical activities during tumor progression have been demonstrated, providing insights into the development of novel cancer therapies.
AGE-breaker ALT711 reverses glycation-mediated cancer cell migration
High glucose causes accelerated production of AGE crosslinks within extracellular matrices. ALT711 treatment can reduce AGEs in collagen I hydrogels to impact breast cancer cell migration.
Decellularized organ biomatrices facilitate quantifiable in vitro 3D cancer metastasis models
3D biomimetic models of metastatic cancer can aid in identifying therapeutic targets to treat or prevent metastatic progression in chemoresistant metastatic cancers.
Cell adhesion strength and tractions are mechano-diagnostic features of cellular invasiveness
Invasive cells show significantly lower critical de-adhesion strength, and high cell spread areas when adhered to substrates, as compared to non-invasive cells which are characterized by low tractions and high de-adhesion strengths.
Differences in cell death and division rules can alter tissue rigidity and fluidization
Different biophysical triggers of cell death and division events within tissues differentially alter tissue mechanical properties such as rigidity and fluidity, consequently affecting tissue reorganization, growth and invasion dynamics.
Skin epithelial cells change their mechanics and proliferation upon snail-mediated EMT signalling
This study describes how epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) alters the actin cortex-regulated cell mechanics and proliferation in a benign tumor model of skin epithelial cells mediated by snail signalling.
On the origins of order
Kauffman proposed that living systems exist in a solid-like regime poised near the brink of chaos. Here we ask if this abstact notion might be realized in the jammed cellular collective poised near the brink of unjamming.
Hyaluronic acid-based hydrogels loaded with chemoattractant and anticancer drug – new formulation for attracting and tackling glioma cells
Original translational strategy to tackle glioblastoma cells using chemoattracting therapeutic HA-based hydrogels.
Paper
Whole tissue and single cell mechanics are correlated in human brain tumors
Biomechanical changes are critical for cancer progression.
About this collection
This themed collection has been Guest Edited by Professors Anna Taubenberger (Technische Universität Dresden) and Tanmay Lele (Texas A&M University). The collection includes, but is not limited to, cancer cell mechanics, mechanobiology, tissue mechanics and bioengineered models of cancer in addition to emerging technologies in the field, and both experimental and theoretical studies.