Unique Cancer Migratory Behaviors in Confined Spaces of Microgroove Topography with Acute Wall Angles.

In recent years, many types of micro-engineered platform have been fabricated to investigate the influences of surrounding microenvironments on cell migration. Previous researches demonstrated that microgroove-based topographies can influence cell motilities of normal and cancerous cells differently. In this study, the microgroove wall angle was altered from obtuse to acute angles and the resulting differences in the responses of normal and cancer cells were investigated to explore the geometrical characteristics that can efficiently distinguish normal and cancer cells. Interestingly, different trends in cell motilities of normal and cancer cells were observed as the wall angles were varied between 60-120°, and in particular, invasive cancer cells exhibited a unique, oscillatory migratory behavior. Results from the immunostaining of cell mechanotransduction components suggested that this difference stemmed from directional extensions and adhesion behaviors of each cell type. In addition, the specific behaviors of invasive cancer cells were found to be dependent on the myosin II activity, and modulating the activity could revert cancerous behaviors to normal ones. These novel findings on the interactions of acute angle walls and cancer cell migration provide a new perspective on cancer metastasis and additional strategies via microstructure geometries for the manipulations of cell behaviors in microscale biodevices.