Distinguishing cancerous from noncancerous cells through analysis of electrical noise

Since 1984, electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) has been used to monitor cell behavior in tissue culture and has proven sensitive to cell morphological changes and cell motility. We have taken ECIS measurements on several cultures of noncancerous and cancerous human ovarian surface epithelial cells. By analyzing the noise in real and imaginary electrical impedance, we demonstrate that it is possible to distinguish the two cell types purely from the signatures of their electrical noise. Our measures include power-spectral exponents, Hurst and detrended fluctuation analysis, and estimates of correlation time; principal-component analysis combines all the measures. The noise from both cancerous and noncancerous cultures shows correlations on many time scales, but these correlations are stronger for the noncancerous cells.