Atomic force microscopy as a nanomechanical tool for cancer liquid biopsy

Liquid biopsies have been receiving tremendous attention for their potential to reshape cancer management. Though current studies of cancer liquid biopsy primarily focus on applying biochemical assays to characterize the genetic/molecular profiles of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and their secondary products shed from tumor sites in bodily fluids, delineating the nanomechanical properties of tumor-associated materials in liquid biopsy specimens yields complementary insights into the biology of tumor dissemination and evolution. Particularly, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has become a standard and versatile toolbox for characterizing the mechanical properties of living biological systems at the micro/nanoscale, and AFM has been increasingly utilized to probe the nanomechanical properties of various tumor-derived analytes in liquid biopsies, including CTCs, tumor-associated cells, circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) molecules, and extracellular vesicles (EVs), offering additional possibilities for understanding cancer pathogenesis from the perspective of mechanobiology. Herein, the applications of AFM in cancer liquid biopsy are summarized, and the challenges and future directions of AFM as a nanomechanical analysis tool in cancer liquid biopsy towards clinical utility are discussed and envisioned.