Open AccessCollagen network and the mechanical microenvironment of cancer cells
Author(s) -
Bo Sun
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
wuli xuebao
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 47
ISSN - 1000-3290
DOI - 10.7498/aps.64.058201
Subject(s) - extracellular matrix , biopolymer , type i collagen , in vitro , adhesion , tumor microenvironment , cancer cell , matrix (chemical analysis) , materials science , cell adhesion , biophysics , nanotechnology , microbiology and biotechnology , cancer , chemistry , tumor cells , cancer research , biology , pathology , polymer , medicine , composite material , biochemistry , genetics
Mechanical interaction between cancer cells and their microenvironment plays a central role in the progression of tumors. In vitro models based on biopolymer networks have been successfully employed to simulate the 3D extracellular matrix (ECM) of tumors. In this review, we focus on type I collagen gel. We describe the hierarchical structural and mechanical properties of type I collagen ECM. We demonstrate that corresponding to the scales of adhesion sites, single cells and cell colonies, the mechanics of the ECM is dominated by single fibers, fiber clusters and rheology of the whole fiber network. In the end, we discuss the limitations of reconstituted type I collagen as in vitro ECM.