Cells sense surrounding micro-environment through integrin-mediated adhesion and alter their morphology dynamically to adapt to continuously changing external stimuli. Cell migration is one of the most essential features of diverse cellular functions such as wound healing, immune response, and cancer metastasis. In response to continuously changing microenvironment, the migration process is intricately regulated by integrin-mediated molecular binding to ligand molecules. Previous studies have shown that cell adhesion and spreading is determined by the integrin-mediated single molecular force. However, how the single molecular force between integrin and ligand determines cell behaviors such as the cell migration remains confusing. Here, we present that the molecular tension across integrin determines the directional cell migration by integrin- mediated formation of focal contact and the phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase. We precisely control the integrin-mediated single molecular force precisely using double-strand DNA rupture force. Our results show that cell spreading and formation of focal adhesion decrease as the suppression of integrin-mediated molecular tension becomes strong. We note that phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase which regulated by integrin activation is dependent on integrin-mediated single molecular force. Ultimately, adhesion-dependent cells display distinct modes of migration in response to the integrin-mediated molecular tension. We expect our results could provide a new insight into the cell adhesion and migration in diverse in tissue environment.
Han et al. (Sun,) studied this question.