title: Characterizing the malignancy and drug resistance of cancer cells from their membrane resealing response.
abstract: In this report, we showed that two tumor cell characteristics, namely the malignancy and drug-resistance status can be evaluated by their membrane resealing response. Specifically, membrane pores in a number of pairs of cancer and normal cell lines originated from nasopharynx, lung and intestine were introduced by nano-mechanical puncturing. Interestingly, such nanometer-sized holes in tumor cells can reseal ~2-3 times faster than those in the corresponding normal cells. Furthermore, the membrane resealing time in cancer cell lines exhibiting resistance to several leading chemotherapeutic drugs was also found to be substantially shorter than that in their drug-sensitive counterparts, demonstrating the potential of using this quantity as a novel marker for future cancer diagnosis and drug resistance detection. Finally, a simple model was proposed to explain the observed resealing dynamics of cells which suggested that the distinct response exhibited by normal, tumor and drug resistant cells is likely due to the different tension levels in their lipid membranes, a conclusion that is also supported by direct cortical tension measurement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.|HKU-Shenzhen Institute of Research and Innovation (HKU-SIRI), Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: T H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Z L
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Fong
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Roger K C
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Ngan
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: T Y
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Joseph S K
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Au
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: A H W
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Ngan
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Timothy T C
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Yip
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.|HKU-Shenzhen Institute of Research and Innovation (HKU-SIRI), Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology