Mechanosensitive ion channel regulates tissue stiffening to promote glioma aggression

Tissue stiffening is a physical hallmark of solid tumor. In our study, we found that the mechanosensitive ion channel PIEZO1 can be tumor cells force sensor and transducer that regulate the altered tissue mechanics. We examined the transcriptional changes modulated by depletion of PIEZO1 in two human GBM cell lines. We found that with PIEZO1 KD, the components involved in ECM organization, focal adhesion formation, cytoskeleton, and mitosis, which contribute to tissue stiffness, are down-regulated. RNA-Seq of G508 and G532 human GBM cell lines treated with scrambled shRNA, PIEZO1 shRNA #1, PIEZO1 shRNA #2, in triplicates.