Clinical doses of radiation reduce collagen matrix stiffness. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Cells receive mechanical cues from their extracellular matrix (ECM), which direct migration, differentiation, apoptosis, and in some cases, the transition to a cancerous phenotype. As a result, there has been significant research to develop methods to tune the mechanical properties of the ECM and understand cell-ECM dynamics more deeply. Here, we show that ionizing radiation can reduce the stiffness of an ex vivo tumor and an in vitro collagen matrix. When non-irradiated cancer cells were seeded in the irradiated matrix, adhesion, spreading, and migration were reduced. These data have ramifications for both in vitro and in vivo systems. In vitro, these data suggest that irradiation may be a method that could be used to create matrices with tailored mechanical properties. In vivo, these suggest that therapeutic doses of radiation may alter tissue mechanics directly.

publication date

  • April 3, 2018

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC6324208

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85078615236

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1063/1.5018327

PubMed ID

  • 31069314

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 2

issue

  • 3