Ductal infiltrating carcinoma (d.i.c.) of human breast is a highly invasive neoplasm characterized by enhanced deposition of collagen. Paradoxically, enhanced collagen deposition is not correlated with inhibition of the migration of tumour cells into the host tissue. d.i.c. is characterized by the reappearance of 'embryonic' type I-trimer collagen and an increase in type V collagen content in the matrix. The effects of these two collagen types were compared with type I collagen as culture substrata on the spreading pattern, cytoskeletal organization and motile behaviour of 8701-BC breast carcinoma cells using rhodamine-phalloidin staining, a DNAase I-competition assay, scanning electron microscopy and time-lapse video-microscopy. Cells grown on type I collagen were stationary, showing a well-spread morphology and an extensive stress fibre pattern. Cells grown on type V collagen were also stationary, but displayed a poorly spread and elongated morphology. In contrast, cells grown on trimer collagen were motile and displayed a compact morphology and a reduced content of stress fibres. Both single-cell and group motility were detectable on trimer collagen substratum. These data are consistent with the existence of two opposite local signals, type I-trimer and type V collagens, which may confer a more or a less metastatic phenotype on breast carcinoma cells. Moreover, the synthesis of trimer collagen in d.i.c. is conceivably instrumental in providing new stromal pathways permitting tumour cells to infiltrate the host tissue.