Fig. 1

An in vitro compression model using alginate disk. a Illustration of tumor growth-generated compressive stress in the interface zone. Tumor tissue is surrounded by fibrotic stromal tissue. Therefore, tumor growth increases compressive stress in the interface zone (tumor periphery), and thereby triggers mechanotransduction in both tumor and stromal cells. b The schematic process of an in vitro compression model with an alginate disk. The alginate disk containing cells is constructed on the membrane of transwell insert stand. After equilibrium with growth medium for 1 h, the alginate disk is compressed by using the cylinder filled with iron beads and cylinder holder. c Compression-dependent deformation of the alginate disk. A cylinder-shaped alginate disks were compressed by loading weight. Alginate disk thickness was measured 24 h after loading weight. d The comparative viability of the cells exposed to different degree of compressive stress. The relative viability of the cells was measured from the alginate disks containing cells using cell counting assay (n = 6 independent experiments). Error bars and p-values were determined by Whiskers (Min to Max) and unpaired two-tailed t-test, respectively. e The immunofluorescence image of the alginate disk containing cells. The CAF cells labeled with CellTracker Red were embedded into an alginate disk, placed on a well of 6-well tissue culture plate, incubated in growth medium for 1 h, and exposed to 3.866 kPa for 1 day. Source data are provided as Supplementary Data 1