A2 Refereed review article in a scientific journal
The dynamic tumor extracellular matrix: Biophysical cues, cellular crosstalk, and disease progression
Authors: Joshi, Omkar; Hamidi, Hellyeh; Mathieu, Mathilde; Ivaska, Johanna
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Publication year: 2026
Journal: Current opinion in biomedical engineering
Article number: 100652
Volume: 38
eISSN: 2468-4511
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobme.2026.100652
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : Partially Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobme.2026.100652
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/515864016
Self-archived copy's licence: CC BY
Self-archived copy's version: Publisher`s PDF
The interplay between diverse cell types and their extracellular matrix (ECM) is fundamental for multicellular life. The ECM is a complex meshwork of fibrillar proteins and soluble factors. Cells and their surrounding ECM interact bidirectionally, whereby cells deposit their tissue-specific ECM and remodel it enzymatically and by exerting contractile forces. The ECM in turn modulates cellular functions like gene expression, proliferation, and motility. A careful balance of this interaction is key for homeostasis, and is lost during cancer progression. Different cell types constituting a tumor including cancer and stromal cells, contribute to an imbalanced cell-ECM crosstalk within the tumor. Cumulatively, this leads to a tumor ECM characterized by particular features like increased stiffness and viscoelasticity, altered alignment, bundled fibers, etc. In this review, we discuss the advances in our understanding of the tumor ECM architecture and the multicellular interactions that help achieve it, with a special focus on increasing granularity in disentangling the contributions of individual tumor ECM features in disease progression.
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Funding information in the publication:
The authors apologize for not being able to cite all the relevant articles given the space limitations of this review and its focus on recent publications. O.J. was supported by the University of Turku Graduate School Doctoral Programme in Technology (DPT) (#2300668) and the Finland Fellowship 2023. J.I. was supported by the Finnish Cancer Institute (K. Albin Johansson Professorship); a Research Council of FinlandCentre of Excellence programme (grant nos. 346131and 364182); the Cancer Foundation Finland; the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation; and the Research Council of Finland InFLAMES Flagship Programme (grant nos. 337530 and 357910). Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. This work is supported by an ERC grant (BorderControl) under Horizon Europe grant agreement no. 101142305.
