Extracellular matrix articles from across Nature Portfolio

Age-related stiffening of the extracellular matrix in cartilage promotes chondrocyte ageing in an epigenetically controlled process involving repression of the longevity protein α-Klotho.

An article in Nature Biomedical Engineering reports an intravenously injectable extracellular matrix biomaterial that can target and seal injured tissue by binding to leaky microvasculature.

Extracellular matrix (ECM) rigidity increases during tumour progression. In a recent study, Romani et al. delineated a connection between ECM stiffness and the redox response of disseminated tumour cells. Their results suggest that soft ECM promotes DRP1-mediated mitochondrial fission and an NRF2-dependent antioxidant response.

Extracellular-matrix remodelling contributes to tumour progression, results in intratumoural fibrosis and promotes metastatic behaviour. A new study by Papalazarou et al. now reveals that a pathway involved in ATP supply, the creatine phosphagen system, is a mechanosensitive target during pancreatic cancer invasion.

ECM of tendons harbours collagen fibres that are continuously remodelled in a circadian fashion.