title: A Brief Review of the Biophysical Hallmarks of Metastatic Cancer Cells.
abstract: A hallmark of metastatic cancer cells is their invasion through the basal membrane and endothelial layer, which requires a highly elastic cytoskeleton and nucleus. Therefore, cellular deformability can serve as a universal biophysical marker for detecting a tumor's propensity for invasion, migration, and metastasis. In this review, we define the importance of the biophysical features of cancer cells in tumor metastasis and summarize the state-of-the-art technology for the study of cell biomechanics. This review will serve as a brief introduction to the interdisciplinary character of cancer cell biophysics for cancer biologists, physicists, and engineers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nanomedicine, The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA ; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, 1300 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Weijia
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Morgan Welch Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Program and Clinic, Breast Cancer Translational Research Laboratory, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Kazuharu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kai
authors.affiliation: Morgan Welch Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Program and Clinic, Breast Cancer Translational Research Laboratory, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Naoto T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Ueno
authors.affiliation: Department of Nanomedicine, The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA ; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, 1300 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Lidong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qin
keywords: Biophysics; Cancer metastasis; Cell biomechanics; Mechanobiology; Microfluidics