Cytoplasmic viscosity is a potential biomarker for metastatic breast cancer cells

Cellular microrheology has shown that cancer cells with high metastatic potential are softer compared to non-tumorigenic normal cells. These findings rely on measuring the apparent Young's modulus of whole cells using primarily atomic force microscopy. The present study aims to explore whether alternative mechanical parameters have discriminating features with regard to metastatic potential. Magnetic rotational spectroscopy (MRS) is employed in the examination of mammary epithelial cell lines: MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231, representing low and high metastatic potential, along with normal-like MCF-10A cells. MRS utilizes active micron-sized magnetic wires in a rotating magnetic field to measure the viscosity and elastic modulus of the cytoplasm. All three cell lines display viscoelastic behavior, with cytoplasmic viscosities ranging from 10 to 70 Pa s and elastic moduli from 30 to 80 Pa. It is found that the tumorigenic MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells are softer than the MCF-10A cells, with a twofold decrease in the elastic modulus. To differentiate cells with low and high malignancy however, viscosity emerges as the more discriminating parameter, as MCF-7 exhibits a 5 times higher viscosity as compared to MDA-MB-231. These findings highlight the sensitivity of cytoplasmic viscosity to metastatic activity, suggesting its potential use as a mechanical marker for malignant cancer cells.