Alpha2-N-18 Integrin subunit induces mesenchymal movement in CHO cells through the formation of focal adhesions in a 3D collagen matrix (2016)

Undergraduate: Donna Li

Faculty Advisor: Maryna Kapustina
Department: Biology

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Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO) are an ideal model for studying amoeboid motility due to the periodic manner in which they oscillate and form protrusions. CHO cells can adhere to fibrin, a component of the extracellular matrix (ECM), via an integrin (Alpha5-Beta1), but lack the integrin to bind to collagen. In order to visualize the migration processes of CHO cells in a 3D collagen type 1 matrix, a human alpha integrin subunit, Alpha2-N-18, was transiently transfected into cells. Using long term, multidimensional time lapse imaging, our data show that cells without the collagen binding integrin have a rounded morphology and retained amoeboidic movement, characterized by the formation of blebs. The introduction of Alpha2-N-18 induces the CHO cells to undergo a mesenchymal like migration, in which they exhibit defined focal adhesions at the leading edge, characterized by the presence of vinculin signal at the ends of the actin stress fibers.