title: Quantitative characterization of cell behaviors through cell cycle progression via automated cell tracking.
abstract: Cell behaviors are reflections of intracellular tension dynamics and play important roles in many cellular processes. In this study, temporal variations in cell geometry and cell motion through cell cycle progression were quantitatively characterized via automated cell tracking for MCF-10A non-transformed breast cells, MCF-7 non-invasive breast cancer cells, and MDA-MB-231 highly metastatic breast cancer cells. A new cell segmentation method, which combines the threshold method and our modified edge based active contour method, was applied to optimize cell boundary detection for all cells in the field-of-view. An automated cell-tracking program was implemented to conduct live cell tracking over 40 hours for the three cell lines. The cell boundary and location information was measured and aligned with cell cycle progression with constructed cell lineage trees. Cell behaviors were studied in terms of cell geometry and cell motion. For cell geometry, cell area and cell axis ratio were investigated. For cell motion, instantaneous migration speed, cell motion type, as well as cell motion range were analyzed. We applied a cell-based approach that allows us to examine and compare temporal variations of cell behavior along with cell cycle progression at a single cell level. Cell body geometry along with distribution of peripheral protrusion structures appears to be associated with cell motion features. Migration speed together with motion type and motion ranges are required to distinguish the three cell-lines examined. We found that cells dividing or overlapping vertically are unique features of cell malignancy for both MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells, whereas abrupt changes in cell body geometry and cell motion during mitosis are unique to highly metastatic MDA-MB-231 cells. Taken together, our live cell tracking system serves as an invaluable tool to identify cell behaviors that are unique to malignant and/or highly metastatic breast cancer cells.
authors.affiliation: Precision Measurement and Control Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America; The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America.
authors.forename: Yuliang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Precision Measurement and Control Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America.
authors.forename: Younkoo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America; Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America.
authors.forename: Sissy M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Jhiang
authors.affiliation: Center for Biostatistics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America.
authors.forename: Lianbo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Precision Measurement and Control Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America.
authors.forename: Chia-Hsiang
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Menq
mesh_terms: D001331:Automation; D002449:Cell Aggregation; D002453:Cell Cycle; D002465:Cell Movement; D048430:Cell Shape; D058948:Cell Tracking / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D061986:MCF-7 Cells; D011554:Pseudopodia / Q000378:metabolism