AFM nanoindentation detection of the elastic modulus of tongue squamous carcinoma cells with different metastatic potentials

Abstract

This team of investigators report the use of an atomic force microscopy-based method to determine the elastic modulus of tongue squamous cell carcinoma cells, and demonstrate that such cells with higher metastatic potential show decreased elastic modulus compared to cells with lower metastatic potential.

Angiotensin II type 2 receptor-interacting protein 3a suppresses proliferation, migration and invasion in tongue squamous cell carcinoma via the extracellular signal-regulated kinase-Snai2 pathway

“…In vitro, knockdown of Snai2 suppressed cell invasion and migration; by contrast, ectopic transfection of Snai2 led to enhanced cell invasion and migration (27). Our previous studies (14,15) also revealed that p-ERK1/2, Snai2 and vimentin exhibited higher expression levels and E-cadherin lower expression levels in UM1 cells compared with UM2 cells. The present study demonstrated that the overexpression of ATIP3a in UM1 cells led to an increase in ERK1/2 and E-cadherin and a notable decrease in p-ERK1/2, Snai2 and vimentin.…”

“…Fig. 2A, the protein levels of ATIP3a in UM2 cells were higher compared with those of UM1 cells, which normally have a higher migration and invasion ability compared with UM2 cells (14,15). To evaluate the association between ATIP3a and the migration and invasion ability of TSCC cells, UM1 cells were first transfected with ATIP3a.…”

Research progress in quantifying the mechanical properties of single living cells using atomic force microscopy

“…Lekka et al [62] also measured the elastic properties of patient tissues and found that cancer cells were softer than normal cells. Zhou et al [63] investigated the role of cellular mechanical properties in tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC), showing that TSCC cells with higher metastatic potential showed decrease in the elastic modulus compared with TSCC cells with lower metastatic potential. These results significantly improved our understanding of cancer metastasis and demonstrated that cell stiffness can serve as a biomarker in the formation of tumors.…”

“…The advent of AFM provides a novel instrument for measuring the mechanical properties of single living cells in liquids. In the past decade, AFM has been established as a powerful platform for probing cellular mechanics [71], providing many new insights into the underlying mechanisms of a range of cellular activities (e.g., cancer progression [13,63], cell apoptosis [54, 55], antibodydependent cellular cytotoxicity [57]). However, using AFM to quantify the cellular mechanics still faces several challenges that need to be addressed.…”

Nanomechanical measurement of adhesion and migration of leukemia cells with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate treatment

“…To evaluate further the effects of the PMA on cell metastasis, Western blot analysis was also carried out to compare E-cadherin and vimentin expression before and after PMA treatment. The downregulation of E-cadherin expression and upregulation of vimentin expression are the primary events of epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and consequently promote metastasis, 28,29 while high expression of E-cadherin protein is also thought to be one of the indicators for mesenchymal-epithelial transition, 30 which is believed to reduce cell metastasis and cell migration.…”