Studying the “phagocytic” behavior of cancer cells in different mechanical conditions

In various cancer types, cell deformability is tightly correlated with their metastatic potential, partially because deformability may also contribute to dissemination from solid tumors. Cell morphology is closely associated to cytoskeletal deformability: well-spread cells are stiffer than round cells, primarily because of higher cytoskeletal stress in these cells. Mechanical properties of cells control not only their ability to migrate and to colonize in different mechanical environments, but also their ability to deform, engulf and uptake sub-micron and micro-particles.

Surface stiffness can mimic the mechanical properties of varying physiological microenvironments. Therefore, our objective is to study how the surface rigidity affects the uptake of particles by cancer cells. By monitoring the internalization of particles of different sizes into cells, we were able to find a link between the cell capacity to spread and deform and their “phagocytic” potential. Moreover, cell deformability and uptake patterns were found to be closely correlated to the metastatic potential, as shown for human pancreatic cancer cells. Our results lay the basis to developing a method to predict the biodistribution and targeting of drug vehicles in different organs and in tumors at different stages, based on their mechanical properties.