Smooth muscle is found around organs in the digestive, respiratory, and reproductive tracts.
Cancers arising in the bladder, prostate, stomach, colon, and other sites progress from low-risk disease to high-risk, lethal metastatic disease characterized by
tumor invasion into, within, and through the biophysical barrier of smooth muscle. We consider here the unique biophysical properties of smooth muscle and how cohesive clusters of
tumor use mechanosensing cell-cell and cell-ECM (extracellular matrix)
adhesion receptors to move through a structured muscle and withstand the biophysical forces to reach distant sites. Understanding integrated mechanosensing features within
tumor cluster and smooth muscle and potential triggers within adjacent adipose tissue, such as the unique damage-associated molecular pattern
protein (DAMP), eNAMPT (extracellular
nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase), or
visfatin, offers an opportunity to prevent the first steps of invasion and
metastasis through the structured muscle.