Abstract | When invading tissue, malignant tumour cells (i.e. cancer cells) need to detach from neighbouring cells, degrade the basement membrane, and migrate through the extracellular matrix (ECM). These processes require loss of cell-cell adhesion and enhancement of cell-matrix adhesion. We model the cell-matrix adhesion pathway describing interactions between the matrix glycoprotein fibronectin, integrins (cell surface receptors) and actin filaments in the cytoskeleton. Binding of fibronectin with integrins triggers a clustering of protein complexes, which then activates and phosphorylates regulatory proteins that are involved in actin reorganisation causing actin polymerization and stress fibre assembly. Rearrangement of actin filaments with integrin/fibronectin complexes near adhesion sites and interaction with fibrillar fibronectin produces the force necessary for cell migration, accounting for cell-matrix adhesion. The results are used in a continuum model of cancer cell invasion of tissue, along with results from previous research on cell-cell adhesion. |