Optical tweezers study of membrane fluidity in small cell lung cancer cells

Opt Express. 2021 Apr 12;29(8):11976-11986. doi: 10.1364/OE.420288.

Abstract

The fluidity of the cell membrane is closely related to cancer metastasis/invasion. To test the relationship of membrane fluidity and invasiveness, we first demonstrated that transfection of small RNA miR-92b-3p can significantly increase invasiveness of the small cell lung cancer cell line SHP77. Then optical tweezers were used to measure membrane fluidity. This study employed continuous and step-like stretching methods to examine fluidity changes in SHP77 cell membranes before and after miR-92b-3p transfection. A newly developed physical model was used to derive the effective viscosity and static tension of the cell membrane from relaxation curves obtained via step-like stretching. Experiments showed that invasiveness and fluidity increased significantly after miR-92b-3p transfection. This study paved the way toward a better understanding of cancer cell invasion and membrane mechanical characteristics.

MeSH terms

  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Membrane / physiology
  • Genetic Vectors
  • Humans
  • Lentivirus / genetics
  • Lung Neoplasms / genetics
  • Lung Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Membrane Fluidity / physiology*
  • MicroRNAs / genetics
  • Neoplasm Invasiveness
  • Optical Tweezers*
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Small Cell Lung Carcinoma / genetics
  • Small Cell Lung Carcinoma / pathology*
  • Transfection

Substances

  • MIRN92 microRNA, human
  • MicroRNAs