Mechanobiology of collective cell behaviours

Tumors are stiffer than normal tissue, and tumors have altered integrins. Because integrins are mechanotransducers that regulate cell fate, we asked whether tissue stiffness could promote malignant behavior by modulating integrins. We found that tumors are rigid because they have a stiff stroma and elevated Rho-dependent cytoskeletal tension that drives focal adhesions, disrupts adherens junctions, perturbs tissue polarity, enhances growth, and hinders lumen formation. Matrix stiffness perturbs epithelial morphogenesis by clustering integrins to enhance ERK activation and increase ROCK-generated contractility and focal adhesions. Contractile, EGF-transformed epithelia with elevated ERK and Rho activity could be phenotypically reverted to tissues lacking focal adhesions if Rho-generated contractility or ERK activity was decreased. Thus, ERK and Rho constitute part of an integrated mechanoregulatory circuit linking matrix stiffness to cytoskeletal tension through integrins to regulate tissue phenotype.

Adherens junctions (AJs), which are organized by adhesion proteins and the underlying actin cytoskeleton, probably sense pulling forces from adjacent cells and modulate opposing forces to maintain tissue integrity, but the regulatory mechanism remains unknown at the molecular level. Although the possibility that alpha-catenin acts as a direct linker between the membrane and the actin cytoskeleton for AJ formation and function has been minimized, here we show that alpha-catenin recruits vinculin, another main actin-binding protein of AJs, through force-dependent changes in alpha-catenin conformation. We identified regions in the alpha-catenin molecule that are required for its force-dependent binding of vinculin by introducing mutant alpha-catenin into cells and using in vitro binding assays. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching analysis for alpha-catenin mobility and the existence of an antibody recognizing alpha-catenin in a force-dependent manner further supported the notion that alpha-catenin is a tension transducer that translates mechanical stimuli into a chemical response, resulting in AJ development.

Despite acting as a barrier for the organs they encase, epithelial cells turnover at some of the fastest rates in the body. Yet, epithelial cell division must be tightly linked to cell death to preserve barrier function and prevent tumour formation. How do the number of dying cells match those dividing to maintain constant numbers? We previously found that when epithelial cells become too crowded, they activate the stretch-activated channel Piezo1 to trigger extrusion of cells that later die 1 . Conversely, what controls epithelial cell division to balance cell death at steady state? Here, we find that cell division occurs in regions of low cell density, where epithelial cells are stretched. By experimentally stretching epithelia, we find that mechanical stretch itself rapidly stimulates cell division through activation of the same Piezo1 channel. To do so, stretch triggers cells paused in early G2 to activate calcium-dependent ERK1/2 phosphorylation that activates cyclin B transcription necessary to drive cells into mitosis. Although both epithelial cell division and cell extrusion require Piezo1 at steady state, the type of mechanical force controls the outcome: stretch induces cell division whereas crowding induces extrusion. How Piezo1-dependent calcium transients activate two opposing processes may depend on where and how Piezo1 is activated since it accumulates in different subcellular sites with increasing cell density. In sparse epithelial regions where cells divide, Piezo1 localizes to the plasma membrane and cytoplasm whereas in dense regions where cells extrude, it forms large cytoplasmic aggregates. Because Piezo1 senses both mechanical crowding and stretch, it may act as a homeostatic sensor to control epithelial cell numbers, triggering extrusion/apoptosis in crowded regions and cell division in sparse regions.