Polarized interfacial tension induces collective migration of cells, as a cluster, in a three-dimensional tissue

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates through simulations that polarized interfacial tension within cell clusters drives their collective migration in 3D tissues by creating directional flows of cell interfaces, leading to cluster movement.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism where polarized interfacial tension causes directional cell interface flow, promoting 3D cluster migration in tissues.

Findings

Polarized interfacial tension induces directional cell interface flow.

Cluster migration is driven by expansion and contraction of cell boundaries.

The mechanism explains collective movement in embryogenesis and cancer invasion.

Abstract

Cells collectively migrate as a cluster in three-dimensional (3D) tissues, such as in embryogenesis and cancer invasion. Here, numerical simulations using a 3D vertex model show that polarized interfacial tension, expressing cell adhesion and cortex contractility, induces the cluster migration in the 3D space. The mechanism is that polarized interfacial tension induced a directional flow of cell-cell interfaces from the front to rear within the whole cluster, producing a driving force, i.e., cells move forward as a cluster by simply expanding and contracting cell-cell boundaries.