title: The Effect of Polysialic Acid Expression on Glioma Cell Nano-mechanics.
abstract: Polysialic acid (polySia) is an important carbohydrate bio-polymer that is commonly over-expressed on tumours of neuroendocrine origin and plays a key role in tumour progression. polySia exclusively decorates the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) on tumour cell membranes, modulating cell-cell interactions, motility and invasion. In this preliminary study, we examine the nano-mechanical properties of isogenic C6 rat glioma cells-transfected cells engineered to express the enzyme polysialyltransferase ST8SiaII, which synthesises polySia (C6-STX cells) and wild-type cells (C6-WT). We demonstrate that polySia expression leads to reduced elastic and adhesive properties but also more viscoelastic compared to non-expressing wild-type cells. Whilst differences in cell elasticity between healthy and cancer cells are regularly assigned to changes in the cytoskeleton, we show that in this model system, the change in properties at the nano-level is due to the polySia on the transfected cell membrane surface.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Informatics, University of Bradford, Bradford, BD7 1DP UK.
authors.forename: Colin A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.affiliation: Advanced Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Informatics, University of Bradford, Bradford, BD7 1DP UK.
authors.forename: Peter C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Twigg
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cancer Therapeutics, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, BD7 1DP UK.
authors.forename: Rida F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Saeed
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cancer Therapeutics, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, BD7 1DP UK.
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lawson
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cancer Therapeutics, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, BD7 1DP UK.
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Falconer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cancer Therapeutics, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, BD7 1DP UK.
authors.forename: Steven D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Shnyder
keywords: AFM; Cell elasticity; Nano-mechanics; Polysialic acid; Tumour dissemination