Junmin Lee1, Amr A. Abdeen1, Kathryn L.Wycislo2, Timothy M. Fan3 and Kristopher A. Kilian1*
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA. 2Department of Pathobiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA. 3Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
*Correspondence to : Kristopher A. Kilian
Within the heterogeneous architecture of tumour tissue there exists an elusive population of stem-like cells that are implicated in both recurrence and metastasis1, 2. Here, by using engineered extracellular matrices, we show that geometric features at the perimeter of tumour tissue will prime a population of cells with a stem-cell-like phenotype. These cells show characteristics of cancer stem cells in vitro, as well as enhanced tumorigenicity in murine models of primary tumour growth and pulmonary metastases. We also show that interfacial geometry modulates cell shape, adhesion through integrin α5β1, MAPK and STAT activity, and initiation of pluripotency signalling. Our results for several human cancer cell lines suggest that interfacial geometry triggers a general mechanism for the regulation of cancer-cell state. Similar to how a growing tumour can co-opt normal soluble signalling pathways3, our findings demonstrate how cancer can also exploit geometry to orchestrate oncogenesis.