Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2015) 130: 202
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2015-15202-6

Regular Article

Local mechanical properties of bladder cancer cells measured by AFM as a signature of metastatic potential

¹ Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LIPHY, F-38000, Grenoble, France
² CNRS, LIPHY, F-38000, Grenoble, France
³ INSERM, IAB, F-38000, Grenoble, France
⁴ Univ. Grenoble Alpes, IAB, F-38000, Grenoble, France

^* e-mail: claude.verdier@ujf-grenoble.fr

Received: 15 June 2015
Revised: 15 August 2015
Accepted: 8 September 2015
Published online: 13 October 2015

Abstract

The rheological properties of bladder cancer cells of different invasivities have been investigated using a microrheological technique well adapted in the range [1-300Hz] of interest to understand local changes in the cytoskeleton microstructure, in particular actin fibres. Drugs disrupting actin and acto-myosin functions were used to study the resistance of such cancer cells. Results on a variety of cell lines were fitted with a model revealing the importance of two parameters, the elastic shear plateau modulus G _N ⁰ as well as the glassy transition frequency f _T. These parameters are good markers for invasiveness, with the notable exception of the cell periphery, which is stiffer for less invasive cells, and could be of importance in cancer metastasis.