Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering
Microenvironment Regulates Fusion Of Breast Cancer Cells, Peiran Zhu
Microenvironment Regulates Fusion Of Breast Cancer Cells, Peiran Zhu
Masters Theses
Fusion of cancer cells has been observed in tumors for more than a century and is thought to contribute to tumor development and drug resistance. The low frequency of cell fusion events and the instability of fused cells have hindered our ability to understand the molecular mechanisms that govern cell fusion. We have developed a patterned gel system that can isolate cell fusion events and we demonstrate that several breast cancer cell lines can fuse into multinucleated giant cells in vitro, and the initiation and longevity of fused cells can be regulated solely by biophysical factors. Dynamically tuning the adhesive …