A self-organized compression network arrests epithelial proliferation
Abstract
As epithelial development or wound closure approaches completion, cell proliferation progressively slows via contact inhibition of proliferation (CIP) - a mechanism understood as being strictly local. Here we report the discovery of inhibition of proliferation through an unanticipated mechanism that is non-local. As a confluent epithelial layer becomes progressively more jammed, two interpenetrating networks emerge: islands of mechanically compressed non-cycling cells percolating within an ocean of mechanically tensed cycling cells. The evolution of the compression network was found to be susceptible to both specific molecular stimulus and to injury-induced unjamming. Yet, in all circumstances, the size of compressed islands followed a power-law distribution that was well-captured by preferential network theory. Together, these findings demonstrate the existence of a network-based inhibition of proliferation (NIP) that is self-organizing and poised in proximity to criticality.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2509.16661,
title = {A self-organized compression network arrests epithelial proliferation},
author = {Liav Daraf and Yael Lavi and Areej Saleem and Daniel Sevilla Sanchez and Yuri Feldman and Lior Atia},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.16661},
year = {2025}
}