Bergman Eden, Goldbart Riki, Traitel Tamar, Amar-Lewis Eliz, Zorea Jonathan, Yegodayev Ksenia, Alon Irit, Rankovic Sanela, Krieger Yuval, Rousso Itay, Elkabets Moshe, Kost Joseph
Department of Chemical Engineering Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Beer-Sheva Israel.
The Shraga Segal Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics, Faculty of Health Sciences Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Beer-Sheva Israel.
Bioeng Transl Med. 2021 May 27;6(3):e10226. doi: 10.1002/btm2.10226. eCollection 2021 Sep.
We hypothesize that the biomechanical properties of cells can predict their viability, with Young's modulus representing the former and cell sensitivity to ultrasound representing the latter. Using atomic force microscopy, we show that the Young's modulus stiffness measure is significantly lower for superficial cancer cells (squamous cell carcinomas and melanoma) compared with noncancerous keratinocyte cells. In vitro findings reveal a significant difference between cancerous and noncancerous cell viability at the four ultrasound energy levels evaluated, with different cell lines exhibiting different sensitivities to the same ultrasound intensity. Young's modulus correlates with cell viability ( = 0.93), indicating that this single biomechanical property can predict cell sensitivity to ultrasound treatment. In mice, repeated ultrasound treatment inhibits tumor growth without damaging healthy skin tissue. Histopathological tumor analysis indicates ultrasound-induced focal necrosis at the treatment site. Our findings provide a strong rationale for developing ultrasound as a noninvasive selective treatment for superficial cancers.
我们假设细胞的生物力学特性可以预测其活力，其中杨氏模量代表前者，而细胞对超声的敏感性代表后者。使用原子力显微镜，我们发现与非癌角质形成细胞相比，浅表癌细胞（鳞状细胞癌和黑色素瘤）的杨氏模量刚度测量值显著更低。体外研究结果显示，在所评估的四个超声能量水平下，癌细胞和非癌细胞的活力存在显著差异，不同细胞系对相同超声强度表现出不同的敏感性。杨氏模量与细胞活力相关（r = 0.93），表明这一单一生物力学特性可以预测细胞对超声治疗的敏感性。在小鼠中，重复超声治疗可抑制肿瘤生长，而不损伤健康皮肤组织。组织病理学肿瘤分析表明，治疗部位出现超声诱导的局灶性坏死。我们的研究结果为将超声开发为浅表癌症的非侵入性选择性治疗方法提供了有力依据。
