Beschreibung:
Cell migration and invasion play a role in many physiological and pathological processes andare therefore subject of intensive research efforts. Despite of the intensively investigatedbiochemical processes associated with the migration and invasion of cells, such as cancercells, the contribution ofmechanobiological processes to themigratory capacity of cells as wellas the role of physical polymeric phase transitions is not yet clearly understood. Unfortunately,these experiments are not very informative because they completely disregard the influence ofthe three-dimensional cell environment. Despite this data situation, it was possible toadequately demonstrate that there exists a direct mechanical interplay between cells andtheirmicroenvironment in both directions, where both elements can bemechanically altered byone another. In line with these results, it has turned out that the mechanobiological molecularprocesses through which cells interact with each other and additionally sense their nearbymicroenvironment have an impact on cellular functions such as cellular motility. Themechanotransduction processes have become the major focus of biophysical researchand thereby, diverse biophysical approaches have been developed and improved toanalyze the mechanical properties of individual cells and extracellular matrix environments.Both, the cell mechanics and matrix environmentmechanics regulate the cellmigration types inconfined microenvironments and hence it seems to be suitable to identify and subsequentlypresent a common bidirectional interplay between cells and their matrix environment.Moreover, hallmarks of the mechanophenotype of invasive cells and extracellular matricescan be defined. This review will point out how on the one hand the intracellular cytoskeletalarchitecture and on the other hand the matrix architecture contribute to cellular stiffness orcontractility and thereby determines the migratory phenotype and subsequently theemergence of a distinct migration mode. Finally, in this review it is discussed whetheruniversal hallmarks of the migratory phenotype can be defined.