Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 18, 2026
10:24
Preparation of 3D Collagen Gels and Microchannels for the Study of 3D Interactions In Vivo
Published on: May 9, 2016
A stiff blow from the stroma: collagen crosslinking drives tumor progression
1Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Cancer Cell
|December 8, 2009
Abstract:
Matrix stiffness is an important microenvironmental cue that regulates cell growth, motility, and differentiation. In a recent Cell report, Weaver and colleagues implicate lysyl-oxidase-mediated collagen crosslinking as a contributor to tumor matrix stiffening, which leads to enhanced integrin signaling and invasive behavior in tumors.
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Every normal cell or tissue is embedded in a complex local environment called stroma, consisting of different cell types, a basal membrane, and blood vessels. As normal cells mutate and develop into cancer cells, their local environment also changes to allow cancer progression. The tumor microenvironment (TME) consists of a complex cellular matrix of stromal cells and the developing tumor. The cross-talk between cancer cells and surrounding stromal cells is critical to disrupt normal tissue...
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