Learning the dynamics of cell-cell interactions in confined cell migration

Area of Science:

• Cellular dynamics
• Biophysics
• Cancer research

Background:

• Cell migration is crucial for physiological processes like wound healing and cancer metastasis.
• Contact-mediated cell-cell interactions significantly influence cell migration trajectories.
• Existing models for single-cell migration lack a framework for interacting cell dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a data-driven physical formalism for the behavioral dynamics of interacting cells.
• To infer and predict cellular interaction behaviors based on experimental data.
• To differentiate interaction mechanisms between noncancerous and cancerous cells.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a minimal experimental cell collider with dumbbell-shaped micropatterns.
• Monitored stochastic trajectories of colliding cell pairs.
• Inferred an interacting stochastic equation of motion from experimental data.

Main Results:

• Observed distinct behaviors like cell reversal, following, and sliding during collisions.
• Inferred repulsion and friction interactions for noncancerous MCF10A cells.
• Identified attraction and antifriction interactions for cancerous MDA-MB-231 cells, promoting sliding.

Conclusions:

• The developed framework accurately predicts observed cellular interaction behaviors.
• The inferred interactions provide a mechanistic basis for differences between normal and cancerous cell migration.
• This approach offers a unifying theoretical description for diverse cellular interaction dynamics.