Shaping epithelial lumina under pressure

The formation of fluid- or gas-filled lumina surrounded by epithelial cells pervades development and disease. We review the balance between lumen pressure and mechanical forces from the surrounding cells that governs lumen formation. We illustrate the mechanical side of this balance in several examples of increasing complexity, and discuss how recent work is beginning to elucidate how nonlinear and active mechanics and anisotropic biomechanical structures must conspire to overcome the isotropy of pressure to form complex, non-spherical lumina.