Mechanoreciprocity

Mechanoreciprocity is the continuous biomechanical crosstalk between an adherent cell and its environment. It begins with cytoskeletally derived force exerted against the extracellular matrix and neighboring cells, which activates integrins and other mechanosensitive receptors and transduces signals shaping the responding cell’s morphology, proliferation, polarity and gene expression.

An important consequence is that the responding cell comes to mimic the physical properties of its surroundings, becoming stiffer in more rigid environments and softer in more compliant ones. Since metastatic niches differ widely in rigidity - from very soft lung and brain to mineralized bone - cells colonizing different organs face very different mechanical demands.

Cell stiffness is conventionally measured by atomic force microscopy, which requires adherent cells to be replated, or by the suspended microchannel resonator, a vibrating-cantilever microfluidic device that reports a size-normalized acoustic scattering value for cells in suspension, far faster and without replating artifacts.