Measurements of physical forces in cancer cells

Abstract

A broader knowledge on how cancer cells behave physically is important for understanding how they spread throughout the body. In order to understand how metastasis of cancer cells really works, it is necessary to know what happens with physical forces when cancer cells are awakened from quiescence. Cancer cells, isolated from three patients with urinary bladder cancer, were analyzed with live cell imaging and traction force microscopy. The cancer cell lines showed common features when it comes to traction forces arising after exit from quiescence and activation of cell migration. However, different migration patterns, in terms of single- cell and collective migration, as well as different migration velocities were observed.