Julie Plastino - Membrane invasion by forces

3 important questions on Julie Plastino - Membrane invasion by forces

During invasion, cells breach the basement membrane (BM) with actin-rich protrusions. What remains unclear?

Whether actin pushes forces to help break through BM, or whether actin filaments play a passive role as scaffolding for targeting invasive machinery.

Significance of Julie's paper?

  • During invasion, actin has been attributed a function in scaffolding and trafficking, and its mechanical role has not been explored.
  • In this paper they show that invading cells apply forces via actin assembly to break through the BM, and that force production is one of the key features of invasion.
  • Because BM penetration is a key step in metastasis, a physical understanding of invasion could be useful for designing novel strategies for metastasis inhibition.

AC invasion resembles, in many respects, an invading cancer cell. How is it possible to observe this process in its native environment?

Because of the ease of:
  1. imaging
  2. genetic manipulation
in the worm.

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