ArticleBiophysical journal2005
Optical deformability as an inherent cell marker for testing malignant transformation and metastatic competence.
Article in Biophysical journal, 2005. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 527 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
527 citing papers in PubMed.
- Mechanical regulation of cell memory.Nature structural & molecular biology · 2026Review
- Impacts of Morphology and Elasticity on Cancer Cell Deformation in Shear Flows.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2026Article
- IL-21 boosts T cell-therapy efficacy for solid tumors by enhancing mitochondrial Ca2+-mediated motility of effector CD8+ T cells.Cancer immunology research · 2026Article
- Contributions of single-cell mechanics and cell-cell adhesion to multicellular spheroid mechanics.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Deformability screening identifies NUDT5 as a mediator of cellular mechanobiology.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- High-throughput mechanomic screening reveals novel regulators of single-cell mechanics.Biophysical journal · 2026Article
- High-Resolution Optical Chromatography: Principles, Innovations, and Emerging Biomedical Applications.Micromachines · 2026Review
- Comparative mechanical profiling of MCF-7 cells in 2D and 3D cultures via optical tweezers.Biomedical optics express · 2026Article
- Massart iron oxide nanoparticles in mechanobiology.Nanoscale advances · 2026Review
- Effects of Intracellular Force Localization on Cancer Cell Invasion: Revealing Mechanical Trade-offs through Experimentally Validated Computational Models.ACS biomaterials science & engineering · 2026Article
- Cell viscosity influences haematogenous dissemination and metastatic extravasation of tumour cells.Nature materials · 2026Article
- The Potential Role of Tumor Microorganisms in Remodeling Tumor Biomechanical Signals and Application Strategies in Tumor Therapy.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- Cytoskeletal prestress homeostasis is a biological principle that governs living cell structure and function.Mechanobiology in medicine · 2026Review
- High-throughput Genome Wide CRISPR Knock Out mechanical sort identifies genes driving metastatic cancer cell softening.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Inline mechano-vibration holography for simultaneous phase and elasticity mapping of soft samples.Biomedical optics express · 2026Article
- Aberrant VEGFR2 supports tumor growth by extracellular matrix remodeling.Cell death & disease · 2026Article
- Emerin acts as a mechanosensor linking force transmission and disease.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
- Tumor Metastasis in the Microcirculation.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- A rapid method of evaluating cytotoxic drug efficacy using sub-cellular fluctuation imaging.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Integrating single-cell biophysical and transcriptomic features to resolve functional heterogeneity in mantle cell lymphoma.Science advances · 2025Article
467 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The relationship between the mechanical properties of cells and their molecular architecture has been the focus of extensive research for decades. The cytoskeleton, an internal polymer network, in particular determines a cell's mechanical strength and morphology. This cytoskeleton evolves during the normal differentiation of cells, is involved in many cellular functions, and is characteristically altered in many diseases, including cancer. Here we examine this hypothesized link between function and elasticity, enabling the distinction between different cells, by using a microfluidic optical stretcher, a two-beam laser trap optimized to serially deform single suspended cells by optically induced surface forces. In contrast to previous cell elasticity measurement techniques, statistically relevant numbers of single cells can be measured in rapid succession through microfluidic delivery, without any modification or contact. We find that optical deformability is sensitive enough to monitor the subtle changes during the progression of mouse fibroblasts and human breast epithelial cells from normal to cancerous and even metastatic state. The surprisingly low numbers of cells required for this distinction reflect the tight regulation of the cytoskeleton by the cell. This suggests using optical deformability as an inherent cell marker for basic cell biological investigation and diagnosis of disease.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.