Swiss Centre for Electronics and Microtechnology, CSEM SA, Nanotechnology and Life Sciences, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
Department of Oncology, CHUV, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland.
Nanomedicine. 2014 Jan;10(1):141-8. doi: 10.1016/j.nano.2013.07.007. Epub 2013 Jul 24.
The stiffness of tumor cells varies during cancer progression. In particular, metastatic carcinoma cells analyzed by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) appear softer than non-invasive and normal cells. Here we examined by AFM how the stiffness of melanoma cells varies during progression from non-invasive Radial Growth Phase (RGP) to invasive Vertical Growth Phase (VGP) and to metastatic tumors. We show that transformation of melanocytes to RGP and to VGP cells is characterized by decreased cell stiffness. However, further progression to metastatic melanoma is accompanied by increased cell stiffness and the acquisition of higher plasticity by tumor cells, which is manifested by their ability to greatly augment or reduce their stiffness in response to diverse adhesion conditions. We conclude that increased plasticity, rather than decreased stiffness as suggested for other tumor types, is a marker of melanoma malignancy. These findings advise caution about the potential use of AFM for melanoma diagnosis.
This study investigates the changes to cellular stiffness in metastatic melanoma cells examined via atomic force microscopy. The results demonstrate that increased plasticity is a marker of melanoma malignancy, as opposed to decreased stiffness.
肿瘤细胞的硬度在癌症进展过程中会发生变化。特别是通过原子力显微镜（AFM）分析的转移性癌细胞比非侵袭性和正常细胞更柔软。在这里，我们通过 AFM 检查了黑色素瘤细胞在从非侵袭性的放射状生长阶段（RGP）到侵袭性的垂直生长阶段（VGP）以及到转移性肿瘤的进展过程中硬度如何变化。我们表明，黑素细胞向 RGP 和 VGP 细胞的转化特征是细胞硬度降低。然而，进一步向转移性黑色素瘤的进展伴随着细胞硬度的增加和肿瘤细胞获得更高的可塑性，这表现为它们能够根据不同的粘附条件大大增加或降低其硬度。我们得出结论，增加的可塑性，而不是像其他肿瘤类型那样的硬度降低，是黑色素瘤恶性的标志。这些发现建议谨慎使用 AFM 进行黑色素瘤诊断。
本研究通过原子力显微镜（AFM）检查，研究了转移性黑色素瘤细胞中细胞硬度的变化。结果表明，与硬度降低相反，增加的可塑性是黑色素瘤恶性的标志。
