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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 25: Cell Mechanics II
BP 25.9: Talk
Thursday, March 30, 2023, 17:15–17:30, BAR Schö
The formation of microtentacles — •Lucina Kainka1, Reza Shaebani2, 3, Kathi Kaiser1, Ludger Santen2, 3, and Franziska Lautenschläger1, 3 — 1Department of Experimental Physics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany — 2Department of Theoretical Physics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany — 3Center for Biophysics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
It is widely assumed that cellular stiffness decreases during cancer progression, and this is mainly attributed to changes in their actin cortex properties. It has recently been proposed that a weakened actin cortex enables the formation of so called microtentacles. Microtentacles are microtubule-based membrane protrusions that are formed by circulating tumor cells. It is assumed that microtentacles promote reattachment of circulating tumor cells to the tissue and the escape from the blood stream.In this study, we aim to understand how the actin cortex structure changes during cancer progression to enable microtentacle formation. We further ask how microtubules generate forces to protrude the cell membrane.In our experiments, we use noncancer RPE-1 cells as a model system. By treating these cells with actin affecting compounds while they are in suspension, they form microtentacles. We further can control the number and length of microtentacles by varying the concentration of compounds applied. We analyze the actin cortex and microtubule network in these cells with fluorescence and scanning electron microscopy. We further study the microtubule dynamics inside microtentacles by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP).