Stemness of breast cancer cells incubated on viscoelastic gel substrates

Abstract

Acrylamide copolymer-based gel substrates with different viscoelasticity were employed to evaluate the viscoelasticity effect on the direct relation among cancer stemness and mesenchymal properties with induction of epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) of human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) cells in both normoxia and hypoxia. The softer gel substrate produced a large amount of surface molecule of cancer stem cells (CSC) marker CD44. In contrast, for the stem cell biomarker CD133 expression, their coefficient of damping (tan)-dependent manner was not contributed by EMT phenomenon and was an independent from acquisition of the EMT. The substrate damping as potential physical parameter emerged the important linkage to cancer stemness and EMT induction.