Mechanobiology of solid tumors

Antonios N Gargalionis; Kostas A Papavassiliou; Athanasios G Papavassiliou

doi:10.1016/j.bbadis.2022.166555

Mechanobiology of solid tumors

Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Basis Dis. 2022 Dec 1;1868(12):166555. doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2022.166555. Epub 2022 Sep 20.

Authors

Antonios N Gargalionis¹, Kostas A Papavassiliou², Athanasios G Papavassiliou³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biological Chemistry, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 11527, Greece. Electronic address: agargal@med.uoa.gr.
² Department of Biological Chemistry, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 11527, Greece.
³ Department of Biological Chemistry, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 11527, Greece. Electronic address: papavas@med.uoa.gr.

PMID: 36150659
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2022.166555

Abstract

Mechanical features of cancer cells emerge as a distinct trait during development and progression of solid tumors. Herein, we discuss recent key findings regarding the impact of various types of mechanical stresses on cancer cell properties. Data suggest that different mechanical forces, alterations of matrix rigidity and tumor microenvironment facilitate cancer hallmarks, especially invasion and metastasis. Moreover, a subset of mechanosensory proteins are responsible for mediating mechanically induced oncogenic signaling and response to chemotherapy. Delineating cancer dynamics and decoding of respective signal transduction mechanisms will provide new therapeutic strategies against solid tumors in the future.

Keywords: Cancer invasion; Matrix stiffness; Mechanical stress; Mechanotransduction; Metastasis; Tumor microenvironment.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Biophysics
Extracellular Matrix* / metabolism
Humans
Neoplasms* / pathology
Stress, Mechanical
Tumor Microenvironment