Evidence of differential mass change rates between human breast cancer cell lines in culture

Abstract

Investigating the growth signatures of single cells will determine how cell growth is regulated and cell size is maintained. The ability to precisely measure such changes and alterations in cell size and cell mass could be important for applications in cancer and drug screening. Here, we measure the mass growth rate of individual benign (MCF-10A), non-invasive (MCF-7), and highly-invasive malignant (MDA-MB-231) breast cancer cells. A micro-patterning technique was employed to allow for the long-term growth of motile cells. Results show mass growth rates at 4.8%, 1.2%, and 2.8% for MCF-10A, MCF-7, and MDA-MB-231, demonstrating that normal cells have a higher mass growth rate than cancerous cells. All the cell lines show an increase in mass change rate indicating that the mass accumulation rate is exponential over a single cell cycle. The growth rates measured with our MEMS sensor are compared with doubling times obtained through conventional bulk analysis techniques, and exhibit excellent agreement.

Multi-scale based software for effective analysis of anticancer drug efficacy in a computer simulated target environment

“…The 17 hours. This proliferation duration is similar to those reported in experimental studies [196,197]. 𝛽-value is an analog of 𝑊-value for oxidative stress, both these values were quantitatively set to be equal.…”

Fabricating Silicon Resonators for Analysing Biological Samples

“…Mechanical damping in liquid decreases the Q-factor, which results in much lower sensitivity in resonance-frequency-based measurements. To ameliorate the performance in liquid, researchers have taken different approaches such as fabricating a channel embedded in the cantilever to handle liquids while the device as a whole operates in a vacuum [43], keeping the actuating and sensing elements in air while partially accessing the liquid sample medium via an air-liquid interface [12], improving the system to work better in liquid [44], and simply performing actuation and sensing after drying the liquid on the structures [8].…”

Smart Cell Culture Systems: Integration of Sensors and Actuators into Microphysiological Systems

“…As frequency variations of mechanical transducers are linearly dependent on the relative mass variations experienced by the transducer element, a drastic reduction in resonant mass is required to reach single-cell resolution. To address this limitation, the group of Rashid Bashir developed an array of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) sensors with which the mass, growth rate, and other biophysical properties of single adherent cells can be measured and characterized. − Monitoring the growth rate at the single-cell level for over 50 h enabled the detection of differences in growth rate of human colon epithelial cells as a function of cell mass . Furthermore, the sensor allowed for quantification of differences in the growth rates of normal and cancerous cells as well as for studying the viscoelastic properties of single human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells (HT-29) that adhered to the sensor surface. , …”

“…208−212 Monitoring the growth rate at the single-cell level for over 50 h enabled the detection of differences in growth rate of human colon epithelial cells as a function of cell mass. 209 Furthermore, the sensor allowed for quantification of differences in the growth rates of normal and cancerous cells 211 as well as for studying the viscoelastic properties of single human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells (HT-29) that adhered to the sensor surface. 210,212 Marti ́nez-Marti ́n et al developed an optically excited cantilever resonator able to measure, at millisecond resolution, the total mass of single or multiple adherent mammalian cells, reaching picogram resolution (1 pg = 10 −12 g) in liquid environments.…”