BPCPPDYSOE21 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 24: Poster B: Active Biological Matter, Cell Mechanics, Systems Biology, Computational Biophysics, etc.
BP 24.23: Poster
Tuesday, March 23, 2021, 16:00–18:30, BPp
Viscoelastic properties of Pancreatic cancer cells on Soft supports — •Shruti G Kulkarni1,2, Malgorzata Lekka2, and Manfred Radmacher1 — 1University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany — 2Institute of Nuclear Physics, Krakow, Poland
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality, with less than 5% of patients having a 5-year survival rate. The dense extra-cellular matrix (ECM) prevents drug-delivery and its remarkably high stiffness may play a role in cancer initiation and progression. Invasive potential of pancreatic cancer cells has also been related to cellular stiffness. We tested the effect of substrate stiffness on stiffness of pancreatic cancer cells using atomic force microscopy. Force curves were measured on primary tumor cell lines (PANC1 and PL45) grown on collagen-coated polyacrylamide gels (PAG) of stiffness 2.8 kPa and 16.6 kPa and plastic petri dishes. PANC1 shape changes in gradient from well-spread to round as stiffness of the substrate decreases. Mechanical parameters like Young's (~1.4 kPa), storage and loss moduli remain the same, indicating that they display a loss of mechanosensitivity when cultured on PAG. PL45 is rounded on PAG but well-spread on plastic. Cells on the 2.8 kPa gel are 3.5 kPa stiff, while those on 16.6 kPa gel are only 2.2 kPa stiff. PL45 cells may have an increased potential to invade through soft ECMs, because their stiffness increases as the substrate's stiffness decreases. Further experimentation to study the connection between metastatic and invasive cell lines, and other biomimetic substrates, as well as the role of specific ECM proteins has been planned.