Biomechanical profile of cancer stem-like cells derived from MHCC97H cell lines

Abstract

Biomechanical properties and cytoskeletal organization of cancer cells are known to be closely related with their aggressive phenotype. In this study, based on atomic force microscopy (AFM), we aimed to evaluate the mechanical property of liver cancer stem-like cells (LCSCs) and compare it with human hepatoma cells (HHCs). LCSCs were enriched from human hepatoma cell line MHCC97H through a sphere culture system. AFM nanoindentation was investigated as a method for measuring the cell stiffness, and reflecting by Young׳s modulus. Microfilament bundles of F-actin were observed with immunofluorescence staining by confocal microscopy. We found that LCSCs show lower Young׳s modulus and higher migration ability compared to MHCC97H cells. Moreover, the decrease in Young׳s modulus is accompanied with a dramatic decline in F-actin content. These results demonstrated a close relationship between the cell Young׳s modulus and metastatic potential of HHCs, which suggest that Young׳s modulus detected by AFM can be used to evaluate metastatic potential of cancer cells.

Cancer Stem Cell Plasticity – A Deadly Deal

“…Further, exogenous alteration of cell stiffness also resulted in changes in metastatic potential of these cells with less stiff cells showing greater invasion and migration (Chen, Allen et al 2019). The results observed in this study corroborated well with earlier studies showing that cancer cells with greater deformability, lower adhesion strength and lower contractile force show enhanced metastatic potential (Swaminathan, Mythreye et al 2011, Kraning-Rush, Califano et al 2012, Byun, Son et al 2013, Sun, Luo et al 2016, Bongiorno, Gura et al 2018). Therefore, with increasingly detailed characterization of biomechanical properties of various subpopulations of cancer cells and ECM, a 'mechanosome' or 'matrisome' signature may be helpful in identifying and isolating the most aggressive cancer cell subpopulations (Roy Choudhury, Gupta et al 2019).…”

PTEN/FOXO3/AKT pathway regulates cell death and mediates morphogenetic differentiation of Colorectal Cancer Cells under Simulated Microgravity

“…Mechanical stimuli and stress has been shown to affect cell behavior in healthy and pathological conditions 2 . Especially in the process of metastasis and cancer stemness, physical factors of interstitial fluid pressure and matrix stiffness play a major role 3, 4 . Information about the effect of physical factors to cells on a three-dimensional (3D) scale is minimal, and that regarding the influence of gravity on the disease condition is negligible.…”

(−)-Epigallocatechin gallate inhibits stemness and tumourigenicity stimulated by AXL receptor tyrosine kinase in human lung cancer cells

“…AFM revealed that the average Young's modulus value for H1299-sdCSCs was 1.52 kPa, which was 0.68-fold lower than that for the parental H1299 at 2.24 kPa. A previous investigation using AFM reported a 0.7-fold lower stiffness in a human hepatoma stem cell line, MHCC97H, compared with that of the parental cells 26 . Other researchers using a microfluidic device reported a higher deformability in ALDH + CSCs isolated from an inflammatory breast cancer cell line, SUM149, than that in ALDH − cells 27 .…”