Relative Stiffness Measurements of Tumour Tissues by Shear Rheology

The microenvironment of solid tumours is a critical contributor to the progression of tumours and offers a promising target for therapeutic intervention (Cox and Erler, 2011; Barker et al., 2012 ; Cox et al., 2016; Cox and Erler, 2016). The properties of the tumour microenvironment vary significantly from that of the original tissue in both biochemistry and biomechanics. At present, the complex interplay between the biomechanical properties of the microenvironment and tumour cell phenotype is under intense investigation. The ability to measure the biomechanical properties of tumour samples from cancer models will increase our understanding of their importance in solid tumour biology. Here we report a simple method to measure the viscoelastic properties of tumour specimens using a controlled strain rotational rheometer.