Collective cell migration during human mammary gland organoid morphogenesis

Organ morphogenesis is driven by cellular migration patterns, which become accessible for observation in organoid cultures. We demonstrate here that mammary gland organoids cultured from human primary cells, exhibit oscillatory and collective migration patterns during their development into highly branched structures, as well as persistent rotational motion within the developed alveoli. Using high-resolution live-cell imaging, we observed cellular movement over the course of several days and subsequently characterized the underlying migration pattern by means of optical flow algorithms. Confined by the surrounding collagen matrix, characteristic correlated back-and-forth movements emerge due to a mismatch between branch invasion and cell migration speeds throughout the branch invasion phase. In contrast, alveolar cells exhibit continuous movement in the same direction. By modulating cell-cell adhesions, we identified collective migration as a prerequisite for sustaining these migration patterns both during the branching elongation process and after alveolus maturation.

Mechanical Cues Affect Migration and Invasion of Cells From Three Different Directions

Cell migration and invasion is a key driving factor for providing essential cellular functions under physiological conditions or the malignant progression of tumors following downward the metastatic cascade. Although there has been plentiful of molecules identified to support the migration and invasion of cells, the mechanical aspects have not yet been explored in a combined and systematic manner. In addition, the cellular environment has been classically and frequently assumed to be homogeneous for reasons of simplicity. However, motility assays have led to various models for migration covering only some aspects and supporting factors that in some cases also include mechanical factors. Instead of specific models, in this review, a more or less holistic model for cell motility in 3D is envisioned covering all these different aspects with a special emphasis on the mechanical cues from a biophysical perspective. After introducing the mechanical aspects of cell migration and invasion and presenting the heterogeneity of extracellular matrices, the three distinct directions of cell motility focusing on the mechanical aspects are presented. These three different directions are as follows: firstly, the commonly used invasion tests using structural and structure-based mechanical environmental signals; secondly, the mechano-invasion assay, in which cells are studied by mechanical forces to migrate and invade; and thirdly, cell mechanics, including cytoskeletal and nuclear mechanics, to influence cell migration and invasion. Since the interaction between the cell and the microenvironment is bi-directional in these assays, these should be accounted in migration and invasion approaches focusing on the mechanical aspects. Beyond this, there is also the interaction between the cytoskeleton of the cell and its other compartments, such as the cell nucleus. In specific, a three-element approach is presented for addressing the effect of mechanics on cell migration and invasion by including the effect of the mechano-phenotype of the cytoskeleton, nucleus and the cell's microenvironment into the analysis. In precise terms, the combination of these three research approaches including experimental techniques seems to be promising for revealing bi-directional impacts of mechanical alterations of the cellular microenvironment on cells and internal mechanical fluctuations or changes of cells on the surroundings. Finally, different approaches are discussed and thereby a model for the broad impact of mechanics on cell migration and invasion is evolved.

Effect of Nuclear Stiffness on Cell Mechanics and Migration of Human Breast Cancer Cells

The migration and invasion of cancer cells through 3D confined extracellular matrices is coupled to cell mechanics and the mechanics of the extracellular matrix. Cell mechanics is mainly determined by both the mechanics of the largest organelle in the cell, the nucleus, and the cytoskeletal architecture of the cell. Hence, cytoskeletal and nuclear mechanics are the major contributors to cell mechanics. Among other factors, steric hindrances of the extracellular matrix confinement are supposed to affect nuclear mechanics and thus also influence cell mechanics. Therefore, we propose that the percentage of invasive cells and their invasion depths into loose and dense 3D extracellular matrices is regulated by both nuclear and cytoskeletal mechanics. In order to investigate the effect of both nuclear and cytoskeletal mechanics on the overall cell mechanics, we firstly altered nuclear mechanics by the chromatin de-condensing reagent Trichostatin A (TSA) and secondly altered cytoskeletal mechanics by addition of actin polymerization inhibitor Latrunculin A and the myosin inhibitor Blebbistatin. In fact, we found that TSA-treated MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells increased their invasion depth in dense 3D extracellular matrices, whereas the invasion depths in loose matrices were decreased. Similarly, the invasion depths of TSA-treated MCF-7 human breast cancer cells in dense matrices were significantly increased compared to loose matrices, where the invasion depths were decreased. These results are also valid in the presence of a matrix-metalloproteinase inhibitor GM6001. Using atomic force microscopy (AFM), we found that the nuclear stiffnesses of both MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 breast cancer cells were pronouncedly higher than their cytoskeletal stiffness, whereas the stiffness of the nucleus of human mammary epithelial cells was decreased compared to their cytoskeleton. TSA treatment reduced cytoskeletal and nuclear stiffness of MCF-7 cells, as expected. However, a softening of the nucleus by TSA treatment may induce a stiffening of the cytoskeleton of MDA-MB-231 cells and subsequently an apparent stiffening of the nucleus. Inhibiting actin polymerization using Latrunculin A revealed a softer nucleus of MDA-MB-231 cells under TSA treatment. This indicates that the actin-dependent cytoskeletal stiffness seems to be influenced by the TSA-induced nuclear stiffness changes. Finally, the combined treatment with TSA and Latrunculin A further justifies the hypothesis of apparent nuclear stiffening, indicating that cytoskeletal mechanics seem to be regulated by nuclear mechanics.

The matrix environmental and cell mechanical properties regulate cell migration and contribute to the invasive phenotype of cancer cells

The minimal structural unit of a solid tumor is a single cell or a cellular compartment such as the nucleus. A closer look inside the cells reveals that there are functional compartments or even structural domains determining the overall properties of a cell such as the mechanical phenotype. The mechanical interaction of these living cells leads to the complex organization such as compartments, tissues and organs of organisms including mammals. In contrast to passive non-living materials, living cells actively respond to the mechanical perturbations occurring in their microenvironment during diseases such as fibrosis and cancer. The transformation of single cancer cells in highly aggressive and hence malignant cancer cells during malignant cancer progression encompasses the basement membrane crossing, the invasion of connective tissue, the stroma microenvironments and transbarrier migration, which all require the immediate interaction of the aggressive and invasive cancer cells with the surrounding extracellular matrix environment including normal embedded neighboring cells. All these steps of the metastatic pathway seem to involve mechanical interactions between cancer cells and their microenvironment. The pathology of cancer due to a broad heterogeneity of cancer types is still not fully understood. Hence it is necessary to reveal the signaling pathways such as mechanotransduction pathways that seem to be commonly involved in the development and establishment of the metastatic and mechanical phenotype in several carcinoma cells. We still do not know whether there exist distinct metastatic genes regulating the progression of tumors. These metastatic genes may then be activated either during the progression of cancer by themselves on their migration path or in earlier stages of oncogenesis through activated oncogenes or inactivated tumor suppressor genes, both of which promote the metastatic phenotype. In more detail, the adhesion of cancer cells to their surrounding stroma induces the generation of intracellular contraction forces that deform their microenvironments by alignment of fibers. The amplitude of these forces can adapt to the mechanical properties of the microenvironment. Moreover, the adhesion strength of cancer cells seems to determine whether a cancer cell is able to migrate through connective tissue or across barriers such as the basement membrane or endothelial cell linings of blood or lymph vessels in order to metastasize. In turn, exposure of adherent cancer cells to physical forces, such as shear flow in vessels or compression forces around tumors, reinforces cell adhesion, regulates cell contractility and restructures the ordering of the local stroma matrix that leads subsequently to secretion of crosslinking proteins or matrix degrading enzymes. Hence invasive cancer cells alter the mechanical properties of their microenvironment. From a mechanobiological point-of-view, the recognized physical signals are transduced into biochemical signaling events that guide cellular responses such as cancer progression after the malignant transition of cancer cells from an epithelial and non-motile phenotype to a mesenchymal and motile (invasive) phenotype providing cellular motility. This transition can also be described as the physical attempt to relate this cancer cell transitional behavior to a T1 phase transition such as the jamming to unjamming transition. During the invasion of cancer cells, cell adaptation occurs to mechanical alterations of the local stroma, such as enhanced stroma upon fibrosis, and therefore we need to uncover underlying mechano-coupling and mechano-regulating functional processes that reinforce the invasion of cancer cells. Moreover, these mechanisms may also be responsible for the awakening of dormant residual cancer cells within the microenvironment. Physicists were initially tempted to consider the steps of the cancer metastasis cascade as single events caused by a single mechanical alteration of the overall properties of the cancer cell. However, this general and simple view has been challenged by the finding that several mechanical properties of cancer cells and their microenvironment influence each other and continuously contribute to tumor growth and cancer progression. In addition, basement membrane crossing, cell invasion and transbarrier migration during cancer progression is explained in physical terms by applying physical principles on living cells regardless of their complexity and individual differences of cancer types. As a novel approach, the impact of the individual microenvironment surrounding cancer cells is also included. Moreover, new theories and models are still needed to understand why certain cancers are malignant and aggressive, while others stay still benign. However, due to the broad variety of cancer types, there may be various pathways solely suitable for specific cancer types and distinct steps in the process of cancer progression. In this review, physical concepts and hypotheses of cancer initiation and progression including cancer cell basement membrane crossing, invasion and transbarrier migration are presented and discussed from a biophysical point-of-view. In addition, the crosstalk between cancer cells and a chronically altered microenvironment, such as fibrosis, is discussed including the basic physical concepts of fibrosis and the cellular responses to mechanical stress caused by the mechanically altered microenvironment. Here, is highlighted how biophysical approaches, both experimentally and theoretically, have an impact on classical hallmarks of cancer and fibrosis and how they contribute to the understanding of the regulation of cancer and its progression by sensing and responding to the physical environmental properties through mechanotransduction processes. Finally, this review discusses various physical models of cell migration such as blebbing, nuclear piston, protrusive force and unjamming transition migration modes and how they contribute to cancer progression. Moreover, these cellular migration modes are influenced by microenvironmental perturbances such as fibrosis that can induce mechanical alterations in cancer cells, which in turn may impact the environment. Hence, the classical hallmarks of cancer need to be refined by including biomechanical properties of cells, cell clusters and tissues and their microenvironment to understand mechano-regulatory processes within cancer cells and the entire organism.