Understanding the interplay between cell force and cell adhesion processes

Cells, wrapped among their neighbors and surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM), form cell-cell adhesions and cell-ECM adhesions. Extracellular biophysical cues exert a far-reaching influence on a sweeping of cell behaviors, including signal transduction, gene expression, and fate determination. Cell-cell adhesions mediated by intercellular adhesion molecules bridge the membranes of adjacent cells through either heterophilic or homophilic adhesive interactions, playing a critical part in multicellular structural maintenance and, therefore, a foundation for multicellular organisms. Cell-ECM adhesions are derived from the interaction between cell adhesion receptors and multi-adhesive matrix proteins to ensure cell and tissue cohesion. Whereas cells not only unilaterally respond to certain cues from extracellular environment but can also alter the physicochemical profiles of the externalities and hence hold important implications for clinical applications. The essential function of cell adhesions has created tremendous interests in developing methods for measuring and studying cell adhesion properties, namely, cellular force. Here, we describe the collection of cell adhesive inputs on cellular signaling cascades and the “crosstalk” between cell-cell adhesions and cell-ECM adhesions. Furthermore, we provide the summary of the current methods to measure such cell adhesive forces.