Nano-scale physical properties characteristic to metastatic intestinal cancer cells identified by high-speed scanning ion conductance microscope

Recent genetic studies have indicated relationships between gene mutations and colon cancer phenotypes. However, how physical properties of tumor cells are changed by genetic alterations has not been elucidated. We examined genotype-defined mouse intestinal tumor-derived cells using a high-speed scanning ion conductance microscope (HS-SICM) that can obtain high-resolution live images of nano-scale topography and stiffness. The tumor cells used in this study carried mutations in Apc (A), Kras (K), Tgfbr2 (T), Trp53 (P), and Fbxw7 (F) in various combinations. Notably, high-metastatic cancer-derived cells carrying AKT mutations (AKT, AKTP, and AKTPF) showed specific ridge-like morphology with active membrane volume change, which was not found in low-metastatic and adenoma-derived cells. Furthermore, the membrane was significantly softer in the metastatic AKT-type cancer cells than other genotype cells. Importantly, a principal component analysis using RNAseq data showed similar distributions of expression profiles and physical properties, indicating a link between genetic alterations and physical properties. Finally, the malignant cell-specific physical properties were confirmed by an HS-SICM using human colon cancer-derived cells. These results indicate that the HS-SICM analysis is useful as a novel diagnostic strategy for predicting the metastatic ability of cancer cells.

A new scanning mode to improve scanning ion conductance microscopy imaging rate with pipette predicted movement

Scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM) is a non-contact surface topography measurement technique that has been increasingly used for soft surfaces such as living biological samples. An approach-retract scanning (ARS) mode is widely used to avoid collision between the SICM probe (i.e., pipette) and an abrupt increase in sample profile. However, the redundant pipette trajectory in the ARS mode lengthens the scan time, thus reducing SICM efficiency and time resolution. To avoid this problem, a new scanning mode is discussed that adds horizontal movement at each measurement point to predict the upcoming sample topography via variation in ion current. The pipette then retracts in response to raised topography, while it raster scans flat or downhill topography. The feasibility was verified by finite element analysis and experimental tests on three kinds of soft samples: polydimethylsiloxane, mice cardiac fibroblasts, and breast cancer cells. The pixel detection frequency during imaging and the mean square error of the sample topography were compared for the two modes. The new scanning mode enhances the SICM imaging rate without loss of imaging quality or scanning stability, while it increases efficiency and time resolution. It thus has an improved performance for characterizing biological samples.