title: An open access microfluidic device for the study of the physical limits of cancer cell deformation during migration in confined environments.
abstract: During metastasis, cancerous cells leave the primary tumour, pass into the circulatory system, and invade into new tissues. To migrate through the wide variety of environments they encounter, the cells must be able to remodel their cell shape efficiently to squeeze through small gaps in the extracellular matrix or extravasate into the blood stream or lymphatic system. Several studies have shown that the nucleus is the main limiting factor to migration through small gaps (Wolf et al., 2013; Harada et al., 2014; Mak et al., 2013). To understand the physical limits of cancer cell translocation in confined environments, we have fabricated a microfluidic device to study their ability to adapt their nuclear and cellular shape when passing through small gaps. The device is open access for ease of use and enables examination of the effect of different levels of spatial confinement on cell behaviour and morphology simultaneously. The results show that increasing cell confinement decreases the ability of cells to translocate into small gaps and that cells cannot penetrate into the microchannels below a threshold cross-section.
authors.affiliation: London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, UK.
authors.forename: Majid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malboubi
authors.affiliation: Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics, Kings College London, UK.
authors.forename: Asier
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jayo
authors.affiliation: Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics, Kings College London, UK.
authors.forename: Maddy
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parsons
authors.affiliation: London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, UK ; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, UK.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Charras
keywords: Breast cancer cells; Cell deformation; Microfluidics; Multilayer photolithography