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Nano-characterization of two closely related melanoma cell lines with different metastatic potential

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Abstract

Cutaneous malignant melanoma is one of the most lethal types of skin cancer. Its progression passes through several steps, leading to the appearance of a new population of cells with aggressive biological potential. Here, we focused on the nano-characterization of two different melanoma cell lines with similar morphological appearance but different metastatic potential, namely, WM115 from vertical growth phase (VGP) and WM266-4 derived from metastasis to skin. The first cell line represents cells that progressed to the VGP, while the WM266-4 cell line denotes cells from the metastasis to skin. Exploring with a combination of atomic force and fluorescence microscopes, our goal was to identify cell surface characteristics in both cell lines that may determine differences in the cellular nano-mechanical properties. Cell elasticity was found to be affected by the presence of F-actin-based flexible ridges, rich in F-actin co-localized with β1 integrins in the studied cell lines. These results point out how progressive changes in the surface structure of melanoma cells can affect their bionanomechanical properties.

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Acknowledgments

This work was carried out within the collaboration between Austria–Poland scientific technological cooperation (AUT: PL03/2011; PL: 8507/R11/R12), financially supported by the project NCN DEC-2011/01/M/ST3/00711 (PL) and in the frame of Regio13 by the European Regional Development Fund (EFRE) and the state of Upper Austria (to L.A.C., K.M. and P.H.). Both institutions are also grateful to the COST Action TD1002 (AFM4NanoBioMed).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Henryk Niewodniczański Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Radzikowskiego 152, 31-342, Kraków, Poland

    Justyna Gostek, Szymon Prauzner-Bechcicki & Małgorzata Lekka

  2. Center for Advanced Bioanalysis GmbH (CBL), Gruberstrasse 40-42, 4020, Linz, Austria

    Benedikt Nimmervoll, Katrin Mayr, Joanna Pabijan, Peter Hinterdorfer & Lilia A. Chtcheglova

  3. Institute for Biophysics, University of Linz, Gruberstrasse 40-42, 4020, Linz, Austria

    Peter Hinterdorfer

Authors
  1. Justyna Gostek
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  2. Szymon Prauzner-Bechcicki
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  3. Benedikt Nimmervoll
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  4. Katrin Mayr
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  5. Joanna Pabijan
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  6. Peter Hinterdorfer
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  7. Lilia A. Chtcheglova
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  8. Małgorzata Lekka
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Małgorzata Lekka.

Additional information

L. A. Chtcheglova and M. Lekka contributed equally to this work.

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249_2014_1000_MOESM1_ESM.doc

Supplementary material 1 (DOC 5760 kb). Additional supporting information may be found in the online version of this articles (Fig.S1, Fig. S2, Fig. S3, Fig. S4, Fig. S5, Table S1, Table S2)

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Gostek, J., Prauzner-Bechcicki, S., Nimmervoll, B. et al. Nano-characterization of two closely related melanoma cell lines with different metastatic potential. Eur Biophys J 44, 49–55 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00249-014-1000-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00249-014-1000-y

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