Biomechanical properties of metastatic breast cancer cells in high glucose and hyperosmolarity environment

Abstract

Biomechanical properties of cancer cells have received increasing attention for diverse applications owing to their ability to reveal the physiological and pathological states of cells. The association between diabetes mellitus (DM) and breast cancer has been known for a long time. However, the specific mechanism remains to be elucidated, especially at the cellular level. This study observed alterations in the biomechanical behavior of MCF-10A, MCF-7, and MDA-MB-231 breast cells under different glucose concentrations and osmotic pressure levels. Experimental results suggested the inverse correlation between Young's modulus and malignancy. The high-glucose environment decreased Young's modulus of metastatic breast cancer cells and reduced the cell stiffness. The hyperosmolarity environment had the opposite effect. In diabetic patients, breast cancer cells exhibited stronger deformability by upregulating the sensitivity to high glucose concentration and downregulating the sensitivity to hyperosmolarity. These cytological features might promote the invasiveness of breast cancer cells to traverse tissue and cellular barriers and achieve distant metastasis. We proposed a possible mechanism to explain why DM may be a risk factor for metastatic behavior of breast cancer from the perspective of cellular biomechanics. This work may pave the way for optimizing the diagnostics and therapeutics of breast cancer with co-morbidities in clinical practice.