Advanced dynamic atomic force microscopy methods for high-resolution in vitro biomechanical assays of cancer cells

用于癌细胞高分辨率体外生物力学测定的先进动态原子力显微镜方法

• 批准号: EP/H043659/1
• 负责人: Sonia Antoranz Contera
• 金额: $ 5.58万
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2010 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FH043659%2F1
• 关键词: Advanced; dynamic; atomic; force; microscopy

Human cell mechanical properties can change significantly due to invasion of foreign organisms or disease. For example, recent research has clearly shown that the mechanical properties (elasticity, adhesion) of tumor cells change dramatically when they are about to metastasize. Thus elasticity and adhesion measurements of a living cell can be used as indicators of its health or as early indicators of impending disease. Such biomechanical assays can also offer valuable insight into the underlying disease mechanisms and aid in the discovery of anti-cancer treatments that target the cytoskeleton of cancer cells. The proposed work deals with the development of advanced methods using the Atomic Force Microscope for fast, high resolution, minimally invasive, biomechanical assays of cancer cells. As opposed to many existing methods of cell biomechanical assays, the proposed methods will provide quantitative maps or distributions of mechanical properties of cancer cells. By finely resolving variations of local nanomechanical properties of living cancer cells a wealth of new diagnostic information on cancer biomechanics will become available. Such new information could be widely useful for early cancer diagnosis, anti-cancer drugs, and for a better fundamental understanding of cancer cell biophysics/biomechanics.

由于外来生物或疾病的入侵，人类细胞的机械特性可能会发生重大变化。例如，最近的研究清楚地表明，当肿瘤细胞即将转移时，它们的机械性能(弹性、粘附性)会发生巨大变化。因此，活细胞的弹性和粘附性测量可以作为其健康状况的指标，或作为即将到来的疾病的早期指标。这种生物力学分析还可以提供对潜在疾病机制的宝贵洞察，并有助于发现针对癌细胞细胞骨架的抗癌治疗方法。这项拟议的工作涉及利用原子力显微镜开发先进的方法，用于对癌细胞进行快速、高分辨率、微创的生物力学分析。与许多现有的细胞生物力学分析方法不同，所提出的方法将提供癌细胞力学特性的定量地图或分布。通过精细地解决活癌细胞局部纳米力学性质的变化，关于癌症生物力学的丰富的新诊断信息将变得可用。这些新的信息可能会对癌症的早期诊断、抗癌药物以及更好地了解癌细胞的生物物理学/生物力学有广泛的帮助。

项目成果

Multifrequency AFM reveals lipid membrane mechanical properties and the effect of cholesterol in modulating viscoelasticity

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1719065115
• 发表时间: 2018-03-13
• 期刊: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• 影响因子: 11.1
• 作者: Al-Rekabi, Zeinab;Contera, Sonia
• 通讯作者: Contera, Sonia

Nano Comes to Life: How Nanotechnology Is Transforming Medicine and the Future of Biology

纳米走进生活：纳米技术如何改变医学和生物学的未来

• 发表时间: 2019
• 作者: Contera Sonia