Quantifying solid stress and elastic energy from excised or in situ tumors

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Biophysics
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Solid stress, a mechanical force distinct from tissue stiffness or fluid pressure, is elevated in tumors.
• Elevated solid stress is linked to tumor progression, increased hypoxia, and reduced therapeutic efficacy.
• Current methods for measuring solid stress lack robustness, reproducibility, and objectivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop novel, rigorous, and objective techniques for measuring and mapping solid stress in tumors.
• To address the limitations of existing methods for solid stress quantification.
• To enable correlation of solid stress with tumor microenvironment characteristics.

Main Methods:

• Developed three distinct techniques: planar-cut method for 2D spatial mapping, slicing method for small tumor quantification, and needle-biopsy method for in situ measurement.
• All methods account for tumor microenvironment heterogeneity.
• Tissue morphology is preserved for subsequent histological analysis.

Main Results:

• Successfully established three new methods for measuring and mapping solid stress in human and murine tumors.
• The techniques provide robust, reproducible, and objective data.
• Each method requires approximately 2 hours of experimental time per tumor.

Conclusions:

• The developed methods offer significant advancements in quantifying tumor solid stress.
• These techniques facilitate detailed analysis of the relationship between mechanical stress and tumor biology.
• This work provides essential tools for future cancer research and therapeutic development.