Cell adhesion strength and tractions are mechano-diagnostic features of cellular invasiveness

The adhesion of cells to substrates occurs via integrin clustering and binding to the actin cytoskeleton. Oncogenes modify anchorage-dependent mechanisms in cells during cancer progression. Fluid shear devices provide a label-free, non-invasive way to characterize cell-substrate interactions and heterogeneities in the cell populations. We quantified the critical adhesion strengths of MCF7, MDAMB-231, A549, HPL1D, HeLa, and NIH3T3 cells using a custom fluid shear device. The detachment response was sigmoidal for each cell type. A549 and MDAMB-231 cells had significantly lower adhesion strengths at τ50 than their non-invasive counterparts, HPL1D and MCF7. Detachment dynamics was inversely correlated with cell invasion potentials. A theoretical model, based on τ50 values and the distribution of cell areas on substrates, provided good fits to data from de-adhesion experiments. Quantification of cell tractions, using the Reg-FTTC method on 10 kPa polyacrylamide gels, showed highest values for invasive, MDAMB-231 and A549, cells compared to non-invasive cells. Immunofluorescence studies show differences in vinculin distributions: non-invasive cells have distinct vinculin puncta, whereas invasive cells have more dispersed distributions. The cytoskeleton in non-invasive cells was devoid of well-developed stress fibers, and had thicker cortical actin bundles in the boundary. These correlations in adhesion strengths with cell invasiveness, demonstrated here, may be useful in cancer diagnostics and other pathologies featuring misregulation in adhesion.

Download Full-text

Applications of Raman spectroscopy to the urinary bladder for cancer diagnostics

Photonics and Lasers in Medicine ◽

10.1515/plm-2014-0004 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Laura T. Kerr ◽

Katarina Domijan ◽

Ivor Cullen ◽

Bryan M. Hennelly

Keyword(s):

Raman Spectroscopy ◽

Bladder Cancer ◽

Urinary Bladder ◽

Real Time ◽

Cancer Progression ◽

Cancer Diagnostics ◽

Non Invasive ◽

Clinical Methods

AbstractBiomolecular changes associated with cancer progression can be identified using Raman spectroscopy, allowing for this technique to be utilized as a non-invasive tool for the diagnosis of bladder cancer. Applications of Raman spectroscopy for diagnostics in real-time have consistently produced higher sensitivities and specificities than current clinical methods. This technique can be applied

Download Full-text

Non-invasive skin sampling of tryptophan/kynurenine ratio in vitro towards a skin cancer biomarker

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-79903-w ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Skaidre Jankovskaja ◽

Johan Engblom ◽

Melinda Rezeli ◽

György Marko-Varga ◽

Tautgirdas Ruzgas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Skin Cancer ◽

Relative Increase ◽

Cancer Biomarker ◽

Cancer Diagnostics ◽

Sampling Time ◽

Skin Permeability ◽

Experimental Conditions ◽

Non Invasive

AbstractThe tryptophan to kynurenine ratio (Trp/Kyn) has been proposed as a cancer biomarker. Non-invasive topical sampling of Trp/Kyn can therefore serve as a promising concept for skin cancer diagnostics. By performing in vitro pig skin permeability studies, we conclude that non-invasive topical sampling of Trp and Kyn is feasible. We explore the influence of different experimental conditions, which are relevant for the clinical in vivo setting, such as pH variations, sampling time, and microbial degradation of Trp and Kyn. The permeabilities of Trp and Kyn are overall similar. However, the permeated Trp/Kyn ratio is generally higher than unity due to endogenous Trp, which should be taken into account to obtain a non-biased Trp/Kyn ratio accurately reflecting systemic concentrations. Additionally, prolonged sampling time is associated with bacterial Trp and Kyn degradation and should be considered in a clinical setting. Finally, the experimental results are supported by the four permeation pathways model, predicting that the hydrophilic Trp and Kyn molecules mainly permeate through lipid defects (i.e., the porous pathway). However, the hydrophobic indole ring of Trp is suggested to result in a small but noticeable relative increase of Trp diffusion via pathways across the SC lipid lamellae, while the shunt pathway is proposed to slightly favor permeation of Kyn relative to Trp.

Download Full-text

Label-free non-invasive classification of rice seeds using optical coherence tomography assisted with deep neural network

Optics & Laser Technology ◽

10.1016/j.optlastec.2020.106861 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 137 ◽

pp. 106861

Author(s):

Deepa Joshi ◽

Ankit Butola ◽

Sheetal Raosaheb Kanade ◽

Dilip K. Prasad ◽

S.V. Amitha Mithra ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Neural Network ◽

Optical Coherence Tomography ◽

Deep Neural Network ◽

Optical Coherence ◽

Label Free ◽

Non Invasive ◽

Rice Seeds

Download Full-text

Non-Invasive Identification of Nutrient Components in Grain

Molecules ◽

10.3390/molecules26113124 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 26 (11) ◽

pp. 3124

Author(s):

Charles Farber ◽

A. S. M. Faridul Islam ◽

Endang M. Septiningsih ◽

Michael J. Thomson ◽

Dmitry Kurouski

Keyword(s):

Rice Variety ◽

Nutrient Content ◽

Plant Diseases ◽

Variety Identification ◽

Successful Implementation ◽

Label Free ◽

Accurate Identification ◽

Analytical Technique ◽

Non Invasive ◽

Digital Farming

Digital farming is a modern agricultural concept that aims to maximize the crop yield while simultaneously minimizing the environmental impact of farming. Successful implementation of digital farming requires development of sensors to detect and identify diseases and abiotic stresses in plants, as well as to probe the nutrient content of seeds and identify plant varieties. Experimental evidence of the suitability of Raman spectroscopy (RS) for confirmatory diagnostics of plant diseases was previously provided by our team and other research groups. In this study, we investigate the potential use of RS as a label-free, non-invasive and non-destructive analytical technique for the fast and accurate identification of nutrient components in the grains from 15 different rice genotypes. We demonstrate that spectroscopic analysis of intact rice seeds provides the accurate rice variety identification in ~86% of samples. These results suggest that RS can be used for fully automated, fast and accurate identification of seeds nutrient components.

Download Full-text

A nanostructured microfluidic device for plasmonic-assisted electrochemical detection of hydrogen peroxide released from cancer cells

Nanoscale ◽

10.1039/d0nr07608b ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Carolina del Real Mata ◽

Roozbeh Siavash Moakhar ◽

Sayed Iman Isaac Hosseini ◽

Mahsa Jalali ◽

Sara Mahshid

Keyword(s):

Hydrogen Peroxide ◽

Cancer Cells ◽

Real Time ◽

Electrochemical Detection ◽

Microfluidic Device ◽

Cancer Biomarker ◽

Cancer Diagnostics ◽

Liquid Biopsies ◽

Non Invasive

Non-invasive liquid biopsies offer hope for a rapid, risk-free, real-time glimpse into cancer diagnostics. Recently, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is identified as a cancer biomarker due to continued release from cancer...

Download Full-text

Current status of ctDNA in precision oncology for hepatocellular carcinoma

Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research ◽

10.1186/s13046-021-01940-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 40 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Yan Li ◽

Yuanyuan Zheng ◽

Liwei Wu ◽

Jingjing Li ◽

Jie Ji ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Cancer Progression ◽

Diagnostic Technique ◽

Response Assessment ◽

Selection Response ◽

Circulating Tumor Dna ◽

Current Status ◽

Precision Oncology ◽

Tumor Biopsy ◽

Non Invasive

AbstractThe conventional method used to obtain a tumor biopsy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is invasive and does not evaluate dynamic cancer progression or assess tumor heterogeneity. It is thus imperative to create a novel non-invasive diagnostic technique for improvement in cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment selection, response assessment, and predicting prognosis for HCC. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is a non-invasive liquid biopsy method that reveals cancer-specific genetic and epigenetic aberrations. Owing to the development of technology in next-generation sequencing and PCR-based assays, the detection and quantification of ctDNA have greatly improved. In this publication, we provide an overview of current technologies used to detect ctDNA, the ctDNA markers utilized, and recent advances regarding the multiple clinical applications in the field of precision medicine for HCC.

Download Full-text

Tethered Lipid Membranes as a Nanoscale Arrangement Towards Non-Invasive Analysis of Acute Pancreatitis

Biomedicines ◽

10.3390/biomedicines9070755 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (7) ◽

pp. 755

Author(s):

Rima Budvytyte ◽

Akvile Milasiute ◽

Dalius Vitkus ◽

Kestutis Strupas ◽

Aiste Gulla ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Acute Pancreatitis ◽

Lipid Membranes ◽

Electrochemical Impedance ◽

Membrane Integrity ◽

Electrochemical Technique ◽

Label Free ◽

Non Invasive ◽

Novel Approach ◽

Analytical System ◽

Shock Proteins

Extracellular heat shock proteins (HSPs) mediate immunological functions and are involved in pathologies such as infection, stress, and cancer. Here, we demonstrated the dependence of an amount of HSP70 and HSP90 in serum vs. severity of acute pancreatitis (AP) on a cohort of 49 patients. Tethered bilayer lipid membranes (tBLMs) have been developed to investigate HSPs’ interactions with tBLMs that can be probed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results revealed that HSP70 and HSP90 interact via different mechanisms. HSP70 shows the damage of the membrane, while HSP90 increases the insulation properties of tBLM. These findings provide evidence that EIS offers a novel approach for the study of the changes in membrane integrity induced by HSPs proteins. Herein, we present an alternative electrochemical technique, without any immunoprobes, that allows for the monitoring of HSPs on nanoscaled tBLM arrangement in biologics samples such us human urine. This study demonstrates the great potential of tBLM to be used as a membrane based biosensor for novel, simple, and non-invasive label-free analytical system for the prediction of AP severity.

Download Full-text

P2X7 Receptor Promotes Mouse Mammary Cancer Cell Invasiveness and Tumour Progression, and Is a Target for Anticancer Treatment

Cancers ◽

10.3390/cancers12092342 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (9) ◽

pp. 2342 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Lucie Brisson ◽

Stéphanie Chadet ◽

Osbaldo Lopez-Charcas ◽

Bilel Jelassi ◽

David Ternant ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cancer Cells ◽

Cancer Cell ◽

Cancer Progression ◽

P2x7 Receptor ◽

Mammary Cancer ◽

Tumour Progression ◽

Mammary Cancer Cell ◽

Cell Invasiveness ◽

Cancer Cell Invasiveness

The P2X7 receptor is an ATP-gated cation channel with a still ambiguous role in cancer progression, proposed to be either pro- or anti-cancerous, depending on the cancer or cell type in the tumour. Its role in mammary cancer progression is not yet defined. Here, we show that P2X7 receptor is functional in highly aggressive mammary cancer cells, and induces a change in cell morphology with fast F-actin reorganization and formation of filopodia, and promotes cancer cell invasiveness through both 2- and 3-dimensional extracellular matrices in vitro. Furthermore, P2X7 receptor sustains Cdc42 activity and the acquisition of a mesenchymal phenotype. In an immunocompetent mouse mammary cancer model, we reveal that the expression of P2X7 receptor in cancer cells, but not in the host mice, promotes tumour growth and metastasis development, which were reduced by treatment with specific P2X7 antagonists. Our results demonstrate that P2X7 receptor drives mammary tumour progression and represents a pertinent target for mammary cancer treatment.

Download Full-text