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arXiv · 2509.16661

A self-organized compression network arrests epithelial proliferation

Liav Daraf·Yael Lavi·Areej Saleem·Daniel Sevilla Sanchez·Yuri Feldman·Lior Atia
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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.

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Liav Daraf, Yael Lavi, Areej Saleem, Daniel Sevilla Sanchez, Yuri Feldman, Lior Atia. 2025-09-20. A self-organized compression network arrests epithelial proliferation. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.16661

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