2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Mechanical diagnosis and assay of cancer cells based on cell ergodicity

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	18H01850
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Review Section	Basic Section 29010:Applied physical properties-related
Research Institution	Hokkaido University
Principal Investigator	OKAJIMA TAKAHARU 北海道大学, 情報科学研究院, 教授 (70280998)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	末岡和久北海道大学, 情報科学研究院, 教授 (60250479)
Project Period (FY)	2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
Keywords	原子間力顕微鏡 / 細胞メカニクス / がん細胞 / 細胞力学診断
Outline of Final Research Achievements	We studied a platform of atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based system that diagnoses normal and cancerous cells at the single cell level. We developed micro-fabricated substrates for patterning single cells and an AFM system allowing a large number of cells adhered on micro-patterned substrates. Using normal and pre-cancer cells, we found that the classification accuracy is highly dependent on the micro-patterned geometry and the measurement locations within the patterned cells. Furthermore, we found that the shape (height) of micro-patterned cells is also a useful indicator for single cell mechanical diagnosis. In addition, we found that AFM had a potential to map the intracellular structures at their characteristic time scales.
Free Research Field	生物物理学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	がん細胞を1細胞単位で診断する技術は、究極のがん早期発見技術と言っても過言ではない。本研究では、原子間力顕微鏡（AFM）を用いて、がんの進行度を1細胞単位で力学的に同定する新手法を開発した。各種細胞の形態制御が可能なマイクロパターン基板と細胞力学特性の精密計測法を駆使して、１細胞レオロジーの網羅計測が可能な広範囲計測が可能なAFMシステムを開発した。本研究から、原子間力顕微鏡を用いた時間空間細胞力学計測によりがん細胞の診断が可能になった。今後は、細胞力学診断の高速化や様々な部位のがんへの適用およびアッセイの研究を開拓する必要がある。