Actin-based cell protrusion in a 3D matrix

Cell migration controls developmental processes (gastrulation, tissue patterning), tissue homeostasis (wound repair, inflammatory responses) and the pathobiology of diseases cancer metastasis, inflammation). Understanding how cells move in physiologically relevant environments is of major importance, and the molecular machinery behind cell movement has been well studied on 2D
substrates, beginning over half a century ago. Studies over the last decade have begun to reveal the mechanisms that control cell motility within 3D microenvironments – some similar to, and some highly divergent from those found in 2D. In this review we focus on migration and invasion of cells powered
by actin, including formation of actin-rich protrusions at the leading edge, and the mechanisms that control nuclear movement in cells moving in a 3D matrix.