Nanomechanical Phenotyping of Circulating Tumor Cells with Atomic Force Microscopy

Tumor cells shed into the bloodstream are exposed to significant mechanical forces that are distinct from the native environment of epithelial-like cells. The surviving circulating tumor cells (CTCs) respond to circulation conditions with a range of mechanical adaptations resulting in their "mechanical fitness." Multiparameter nanomechanical phenotyping with atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based force spectrometry provides a comprehensive way to characterize these adaptations in a single-cell manner, in live CTCs isolated from the blood of cancer patients. Here, we describe the PeakForce Quantitative Nanomechanical (PF-QNM) phenotyping method for the determination of mechanical properties of CTCs in a fast and non-destructive way, permissive for additional downstream single-cell analyses.