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Shu J, Deng H, Zhang Y, Wu F, He J. Cancer cell response to extrinsic and intrinsic mechanical cue: opportunities for tumor apoptosis strategies. Regen Biomater 2024; 11:rbae016. [PMID: 38476678 PMCID: PMC10932484 DOI: 10.1093/rb/rbae016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2023] [Revised: 01/31/2024] [Accepted: 02/07/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Increasing studies have revealed the importance of mechanical cues in tumor progression, invasiveness and drug resistance. During malignant transformation, changes manifest in either the mechanical properties of the tissue or the cellular ability to sense and respond to mechanical signals. The major focus of the review is the subtle correlation between mechanical cues and apoptosis in tumor cells from a mechanobiology perspective. To begin, we focus on the intracellular force, examining the mechanical properties of the cell interior, and outlining the role that the cytoskeleton and intracellular organelle-mediated intracellular forces play in tumor cell apoptosis. This article also elucidates the mechanisms by which extracellular forces guide tumor cell mechanosensing, ultimately triggering the activation of the mechanotransduction pathway and impacting tumor cell apoptosis. Finally, a comprehensive examination of the present status of the design and development of anti-cancer materials targeting mechanotransduction is presented, emphasizing the underlying design principles. Furthermore, the article underscores the need to address several unresolved inquiries to enhance our comprehension of cancer therapeutics that target mechanotransduction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun Shu
- National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, College of Biomedical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, PR China
| | - Huan Deng
- National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, College of Biomedical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, PR China
| | - Yu Zhang
- College of Food and Biological Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, PR China
| | - Fang Wu
- National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, College of Biomedical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, PR China
| | - Jing He
- National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, College of Biomedical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, PR China
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Jakka VVSV, Bursa J. Impact of physiological loads of arterial wall on nucleus deformation in endothelial cells: A computational study. Comput Biol Med 2022; 143:105266. [PMID: 35092882 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2022.105266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2021] [Revised: 01/17/2022] [Accepted: 01/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Computational modeling can enhance the understanding of cell mechanics. To achieve this, finite element models of endothelial cells were proposed with shapes mimicking their natural state inside the endothelium within the cardiovascular system. Implementing the recently proposed bendo-tensegrity concept, these models consider flexural (buckling) as well as tensional/compressional behavior of microtubules and also incorporate the waviness of intermediate filaments. MATERIALS AND METHODS Four different models were created (flat and domed hexagons, both regular and elongated in the direction of blood flow) and loaded by biaxial deformation, blood pressure, and shear load from blood flow - natural physiological conditions of the arterial endothelium - aiming to investigate the "in situ" mechanical response of the cell. RESULTS The impact of individual components of loads on the nucleus deformation (more specifically on the first principal strain) potentially influencing mechanotransduction was investigated and the role of the cytoskeleton and its constituents in the mechanical response of the endothelial cell was assessed. The results show (i) the impact of pulsating blood pressure on cyclic deformations of the nucleus, which increase substantially with decreasing axial pre-stretch of the cell, (ii) the importance of relatively low shear stresses in the cell response and nucleus deformation. CONCLUSION Not only the pulsatile blood pressure but also the wall shear stress may induce significant deformation of the nucleus and thus trigger remodelation processes in endothelial cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veera Venkata Satya Varaprasad Jakka
- Institute of Solid Mechanics, Mechatronics and Biomechanics (ISMMB), Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (FME), Brno University of Technology (BUT), Technicka 2896/2, 61669, Brno, Czech Republic.
| | - Jiri Bursa
- Institute of Solid Mechanics, Mechatronics and Biomechanics (ISMMB), Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (FME), Brno University of Technology (BUT), Technicka 2896/2, 61669, Brno, Czech Republic
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Reynolds N, McEvoy E, Ghosh S, Panadero Pérez JA, Neu CP, McGarry P. Image-derived modeling of nucleus strain amplification associated with chromatin heterogeneity. Biophys J 2021; 120:1323-1332. [PMID: 33675762 PMCID: PMC8105730 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2021.01.040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2020] [Revised: 12/17/2020] [Accepted: 01/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Beyond the critical role of cell nuclei in gene expression and DNA replication, they also have a significant influence on cell mechanosensation and migration. Nuclear stiffness can impact force transmission and, furthermore, act as a physical barrier to translocation across tight spaces. As such, it is of wide interest to accurately characterize nucleus mechanical behavior. In this study, we present a computational investigation of the in situ deformation of a heterogeneous chondrocyte nucleus. A methodology is developed to accurately reconstruct a three-dimensional finite-element model of a cell nucleus from confocal microscopy. By incorporating the reconstructed nucleus into a chondrocyte model embedded in pericellular and extracellular matrix, we explore the relationship between spatially heterogeneous nuclear DNA content, shear stiffness, and resultant shear strain. We simulate an externally applied extracellular matrix shear deformation and compute intranuclear strain distributions, which are directly compared with corresponding experimentally measured distributions. Simulations suggest that the mechanical behavior of the nucleus is highly heterogeneous, with a nonlinear relationship between experimentally measured grayscale values and corresponding local shear moduli (μn). Three distinct phases are identified within the nucleus: a low-stiffness mRNA-rich interchromatin phase (0.17 kPa ≤ μn ≤ 0.63 kPa), an intermediate-stiffness euchromatin phase (1.48 kPa ≤ μn ≤ 2.7 kPa), and a high-stiffness heterochromatin phase (3.58 kPa ≤ μn ≤ 4.0 kPa). Our simulations also indicate that disruption of the nuclear envelope associated with lamin A/C depletion significantly increases nuclear strain in regions of low DNA concentration. We further investigate a phenotypic shift of chondrocytes to fibroblast-like cells, a signature for osteoarthritic cartilage, by increasing the contractility of the actin cytoskeleton to a level associated with fibroblasts. Peak nucleus strains increase by 35% compared to control, with the nucleus becoming more ellipsoidal. Our findings may have broad implications for current understanding of how local DNA concentrations and associated strain amplification can impact cell mechanotransduction and drive cell behavior in development, migration, and tumorigenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noel Reynolds
- Biomedical Engineering, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland
| | - Eoin McEvoy
- Biomedical Engineering, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland
| | - Soham Ghosh
- Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado
| | | | - Corey P Neu
- Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado
| | - Patrick McGarry
- Biomedical Engineering, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland.
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McEvoy E, Deshpande VS, McGarry P. Transient active force generation and stress fibre remodelling in cells under cyclic loading. Biomech Model Mechanobiol 2019; 18:921-937. [PMID: 30783833 DOI: 10.1007/s10237-019-01121-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2018] [Accepted: 01/21/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
The active cytoskeleton is known to play an important mechanistic role in cellular structure, spreading, and contractility. Contractility is actively generated by stress fibres (SF), which continuously remodel in response to physiological dynamic loading conditions. The influence of actin-myosin cross-bridge cycling on SF remodelling under dynamic loading conditions has not previously been uncovered. In this study, a novel SF cross-bridge cycling model is developed to predict transient active force generation in cells subjected to dynamic loading. Rates of formation of cross-bridges within SFs are governed by the chemical potentials of attached and unattached myosin heads. This transient cross-bridge cycling model is coupled with a thermodynamically motivated framework for SF remodelling to analyse the influence of transient force generation on cytoskeletal evolution. A 1D implementation of the model is shown to correctly predict complex patterns of active cell force generation under a range of dynamic loading conditions, as reported in previous experimental studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eoin McEvoy
- Discipline of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland
| | | | - Patrick McGarry
- Discipline of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland.
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McEvoy E, Shishvan SS, Deshpande VS, McGarry JP. Thermodynamic Modeling of the Statistics of Cell Spreading on Ligand-Coated Elastic Substrates. Biophys J 2018; 115:2451-2460. [PMID: 30527450 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2018.11.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2018] [Revised: 10/18/2018] [Accepted: 11/06/2018] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Biological spread cells exist in a perpetually fluctuating state and therefore cannot be described in terms of a unique deterministic system. For modeling approaches to provide novel insight and uncover new mechanisms that drive cell behavior, a framework is required that progresses from traditional deterministic methods (whereby simulation of an experiment predicts a single outcome). In this study, we implement a new, to our knowledge, modeling approach for the analysis of cell spreading on ligand-coated substrates, extending the framework for nonequilibrium thermodynamics of cells developed by Shishvan et al. to include active focal adhesion assembly. We demonstrate that the model correctly predicts the coupled influence of surface collagen density and substrate stiffness on cell spreading, as reported experimentally by Engler et al. Low surface collagen densities are shown to result in a high probability that cells will be restricted to low spread areas. Furthermore, elastic free energy induced by substrate deformation lowers the probability of observing a highly spread cell, and, consequentially, lower cell tractions affect the assembly of focal adhesions. Experimentally measurable observables such as cell spread area and aspect ratio can be directly postprocessed from the computed homeostatic ensemble of (several million) spread states. This allows for the prediction of mean and SDs of such experimental observables. This class of cell mechanics modeling presents a significant advance on conventional deterministic approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eoin McEvoy
- College of Engineering and Informatics, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Republic of Ireland
| | - Siamak S Shishvan
- Department of Structural Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, East Azarbayjan, Iran; Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Vikram S Deshpande
- Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - J Patrick McGarry
- College of Engineering and Informatics, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Republic of Ireland.
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Zhao F, Vaughan TJ, McNamara LM. Quantification of fluid shear stress in bone tissue engineering scaffolds with spherical and cubical pore architectures. Biomech Model Mechanobiol 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s10237-015-0710-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
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S S S, Sthanam LK, Padinhateeri R, Inamdar MM, Sen S. Probing cellular mechanoadaptation using cell-substrate de-adhesion dynamics: experiments and model. PLoS One 2014; 9:e106915. [PMID: 25197799 PMCID: PMC4157833 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0106915] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2014] [Accepted: 08/01/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Physical properties of the extracellular matrix (ECM) are known to regulate cellular processes ranging from spreading to differentiation, with alterations in cell phenotype closely associated with changes in physical properties of cells themselves. When plated on substrates of varying stiffness, fibroblasts have been shown to exhibit stiffness matching property, wherein cell cortical stiffness increases in proportion to substrate stiffness up to 5 kPa, and subsequently saturates. Similar mechanoadaptation responses have also been observed in other cell types. Trypsin de-adhesion represents a simple experimental framework for probing the contractile mechanics of adherent cells, with de-adhesion timescales shown to scale inversely with cortical stiffness values. In this study, we combine experiments and computation in deciphering the influence of substrate properties in regulating de-adhesion dynamics of adherent cells. We first show that NIH 3T3 fibroblasts cultured on collagen-coated polyacrylamide hydrogels de-adhere faster on stiffer substrates. Using a simple computational model, we qualitatively show how substrate stiffness and cell-substrate bond breakage rate collectively influence de-adhesion timescales, and also obtain analytical expressions of de-adhesion timescales in certain regimes of the parameter space. Finally, by comparing stiffness-dependent experimental and computational de-adhesion responses, we show that faster de-adhesion on stiffer substrates arises due to force-dependent breakage of cell-matrix adhesions. In addition to illustrating the utility of employing trypsin de-adhesion as a biophysical tool for probing mechanoadaptation, our computational results highlight the collective interplay of substrate properties and bond breakage rate in setting de-adhesion timescales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soumya S S
- Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
| | - Lakshmi Kavitha Sthanam
- Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
| | - Ranjith Padinhateeri
- Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
- * E-mail: (RP); (MMI); (SS)
| | - Mandar M. Inamdar
- Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
- * E-mail: (RP); (MMI); (SS)
| | - Shamik Sen
- Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
- * E-mail: (RP); (MMI); (SS)
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