Citation: YUAN JIAN (2010-01-18). Atomic Force Microscopy Study of Emodin Treated MCF-7 Human Breast Cancer Cells. ScholarBank@NUS Repository.
Abstract: Cancer has long been one of the most fatal diseases worldwide. A substantial understanding of cancer cells will lead to improved strategies in cancer diagnosis and treatment. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has recently provided great progress in the study of cancer cells. This emerging technique allows the study of the morphology and mechanical properties of cells in aqueous environment with high spatial resolution and force sensitivity. In this study, AFM was used to probe the cell cortical filamentous network as well as the elasticity of living MCF-7 cell, a human breast cancer cell line. The effects of emodin, an anti-cancer drug on cell cortex and cell elasticity were also investigated. Using an optimized scanning setting, it was found that a scanning force of 1 nN was effective in probing the cell cortical filamentous network. Quantitative cell elasticity measurement was done based on AFM indentation test. Young¿s modulus values were extracted from AFM force curves using Hertz¿s contact model, and were found to be 437.0 ± 208.2 Pa. Comparing with control samples, the pre-treatment of 20µM emodin for 1 hour significantly reduced the mean Young¿s modulus values of MCF-7 cells from 437.0 ± 208.2 Pa to 380.1 ± 138.2 Pa with 90% confidence interval. According to corresponding AFM images, the main reason was that emodin treatment decreased the density of cortical filamentous network, thus reducing the mechanical strength of MCF-7 cells. AFM technique as a surface analyzing tool has the limitation of not being able to probe the cell interior. However, it can still be a powerful method in detecting anti-cancer drug effects on cancer cell mechanics.