Fish‐Derived Collagen: A Promising Biomaterial for Regulating the Migration Behavior of MCF‐7 Cells

The uncontrollable migration of cancer cells is one of the reasons for the poor prognosis. The interaction between collagen and cellular processes is usually dominated by the full triple‐helix structure of collagen. However, it remains to be explored how the collagen configuration affects the migration behaviors of cancer cells. Michigan cancer foundation‐7 cells are chosen to study this relationship. Meanwhile, the grass carp is one of the representative fish species in Hubei and is virtually unaffected by zoonotic diseases. Therefore, grass carp‐derived collagen is prepared and used to modulate the migration behaviors. The collagen sample is pretreated via several procedures including the hydrothermal process and EDC/NHS, respectively. The underlying mechanisms affecting migration behavior are explored by tuning the degree of denaturation, assembly states, and cross‐linking conditions of collagen. Results demonstrate that moderate cross‐linking and assembly contribute to the migration processes, while denaturation significantly suppresses migration. Of particular note is the positive correlation of F‐actin expression levels with these phenomena. More importantly, the hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties of the collagen surface also affect the migration process. In summary, the study may provide insights to flexibly tune the migration behavior of cancer cells, which may be promising in inhibiting tumor metastasis.