ArticleFrontiers in cell and developmental biology2021
AFM Force Relaxation Curve Reveals That the Decrease of Membrane Tension Is the Essential Reason for the Softening of Cancer Cells.
Article in Frontiers in cell and developmental biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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13 citing papers in PubMed, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mesenchymal transitions reduce lamin A expression and nuclear stiffness to enhance confined migration in glioblastoma.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Nanoscale Analysis beyond Imaging by Atomic Force Microscopy: Molecular Perspectives on Oncology and Neurodegeneration.Small science · 2025Review
- Mapping single-cell rheology of ascidian embryos in the cleavage stages using AFM.Biophysical journal · 2025Article
- Insights on Natural Membrane Characterization for the Rational Design of Biomimetic Drug Delivery Systems.Pharmaceutics · 2025Review
- Article
- Deciphering mechanical cues in the microenvironment: from non-malignant settings to tumor progression.Biomarker research · 2025Review
- Size Matters: Rethinking Hertz Model Interpretation for Cell Mechanics Using AFM.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Mechano-inhibition of endocytosis sensitizes cancer cells to Fas-induced Apoptosis.Cell death & disease · 2024Article
- Atomic Force Microscopy for the Study of Cell Mechanics in Pharmaceutics.Pharmaceutics · 2024Review
- Quantitative characterization of cell physiological state based on dynamical cell mechanics for drug efficacy indication.Journal of pharmaceutical analysis · 2023Article
- Mechanobiology of Colorectal Cancer.Cancers · 2022Review
- Elastic moduli of normal and cancer cell membranes revealed by molecular dynamics simulations.Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP · 2022Article
- Review
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3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
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Abstract
Differences in stiffness constitute an extremely important aspect of the mechanical differences between cancer cells and normal cells, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) is the most commonly used tool to characterize the difference in stiffness. However, the process of mechanical characterization using AFM has been controversial and the influence of the membrane tension on AFM measurement results was often ignored. Here, a physical model involving a simultaneous consideration of the effects of the cell membrane, cytoskeleton network and cytosol was proposed. We carried out a theoretical analysis of AFM force relaxation curves, and as a result solved many of the remaining controversial issues regarding AFM-based mechanical characterization of cells, and provided a quantitative solution for the membrane tension measured using AFM indentation experiments for the first time. From the results of experiments on cells with different adherent shapes and different pairs of normal cells and cancer cells, we found additional force provided by membrane tension to be the main component of the force applied to the AFM probe, with decreased cell membrane tension being the essential reason for the greater softness of cancer cells than of normal cells. Hence, regulating membrane tension may become an important method for regulating the behavior of cancer cells.
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