{"id":28357,"date":"2025-09-16T10:47:41","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T05:02:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/?p=28357"},"modified":"2025-09-16T10:47:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T05:02:49","slug":"new-study-reveals-how-cells-feel-their-way-through-tissue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/new-study-reveals-how-cells-feel-their-way-through-tissue\/","title":{"rendered":"New Study Reveals How Cells ‘Feel’ Their Way Through Tissue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Deepai<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

ST. LOUIS \u2014 Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis have uncovered how groups of normal cells can sense and respond to their environment far beyond their immediate surroundings\u2014much like the famously sensitive princess in the classic fairy tale who detected a pea beneath a tower of mattresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)<\/a><\/em>, the study builds on previous research into \u201cdepth mechano-sensing,\u201d a process by which cells detect mechanical cues from layers beneath them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While earlier findings showed that individual abnormal cells\u2014particularly those with high front-rear polarity\u2014could sense up to 10 microns into the extracellular matrix (ECM), the new research reveals that clusters of epithelial cells can extend that reach tenfold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause it\u2019s a collective of cells, they are generating higher forces,\u201d said Amit Pathak, professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at the university\u2019s McKelvey School of Engineering. Pathak co-authored the study with PhD student Hongsheng Yu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team found that these epithelial cells, which line the surfaces of tissues, work together to deform surrounding fibrous collagen and probe up to 100 microns into the ECM. This ability allows them to detect the stiffness of nearby tissue\u2014whether it\u2019s soft muscle, rigid bone, or a tumor\u2014and adjust their movement accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their models suggest that this sensing occurs in two distinct phases: clustering and migration. What the cells \u201cfeel\u201d during clustering directly influences how they disperse, which has major implications for understanding how cancer spreads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cancer cells, known for their heightened sensitivity, use this mechanism to escape the tumor microenvironment and migrate undetected through soft tissues. By identifying the molecular regulators that enable such long-range sensing, researchers hope to pinpoint new therapeutic targets. Blocking a cancer cell\u2019s ability to \u201cfeel\u201d its way forward could potentially halt its spread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This breakthrough offers a promising avenue for future cancer treatments\u2014one that targets not just the cells themselves, but their remarkable ability to navigate the body\u2019s terrain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ST. LOUIS \u2014 Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis have uncovered how groups of normal cells can sense and respond to their environment far beyond their immediate surroundings\u2014much like the famously sensitive princess in the classic fairy tale who detected a pea beneath a tower of mattresses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","category-biology"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cells-extend-their-senses.webp",512,512,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cells-extend-their-senses-200x200.webp",200,200,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cells-extend-their-senses.webp",512,512,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cells-extend-their-senses.webp",512,512,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cells-extend-their-senses.webp",512,512,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cells-extend-their-senses.webp",512,512,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cells-extend-their-senses.webp",512,512,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cells-extend-their-senses.webp",512,512,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cells-extend-their-senses.webp",512,512,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cells-extend-their-senses.webp",512,512,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cells-extend-their-senses.webp",512,512,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cells-extend-their-senses-512x490.webp",512,490,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cells-extend-their-senses-512x360.webp",512,360,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cells-extend-their-senses-95x65.webp",95,65,true],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cells-extend-their-senses.webp",512,512,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cells-extend-their-senses-96x96.webp",96,96,true],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cells-extend-their-senses-150x150.webp",150,150,true]},"author_info":{"info":["RevoScience"]},"category_info":"Research<\/a> Biology<\/a>","tag_info":"Biology","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28357"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28359,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28357\/revisions\/28359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}