Lab-on-a-Chip Platforms for Biophysical Studies of Cancer with Single-Cell Resolution

Recent cancer research has more strongly emphasized the biophysical aspects of tumor development, progression, and microenvironment. In addition to genetic modifications and mutations in cancer cells, it is now well accepted that the physical properties of cancer cells such as stiffness, electrical...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in biotechnology (Regular ed.) 2018-05, Vol.36 (5), p.549-561
Main Authors: Shukla, Vasudha C., Kuang, Tai-rong, Senthilvelan, Abirami, Higuita-Castro, Natalia, Duarte-Sanmiguel, Silvia, Ghadiali, Samir N., Gallego-Perez, Daniel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automation
Biophysical Phenomena
Biophysics
Biopsy
Cancer
cancer biophysics
Dielectric properties
Disease
Electrical impedance
Heterogeneity
Humans
Lab-on-a-chip
Lab-On-A-Chip Devices
Medical prognosis
Medical research
Metastasis
Motility
Mutation
Neoplasms - pathology
Neoplasms - physiopathology
Phenotypes
Physical properties
Platforms
Refractivity
Single-Cell Analysis - instrumentation
Single-Cell Analysis - methods
single-cell characterization
Stiffness
Tumors
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Recent cancer research has more strongly emphasized the biophysical aspects of tumor development, progression, and microenvironment. In addition to genetic modifications and mutations in cancer cells, it is now well accepted that the physical properties of cancer cells such as stiffness, electrical impedance, and refractive index vary with tumor progression and can identify a malignant phenotype. Moreover, cancer heterogeneity renders population-based characterization techniques inadequate, as individual cellular features are lost in the average. Hence, platforms for fast and accurate characterization of biophysical properties of cancer cells at the single-cell level are required. Here, we highlight some of the recent advances in the field of cancer biophysics and the development of lab-on-a-chip platforms for single-cell biophysical analyses of cancer cells. Multiple avenues for early diagnosis of cancer are being explored, one of which is functional biophysical characterization of cancerous cells and tissues. Lab-on-a-chip systems have gained interest for both biochemical and biophysical characterization of biological samples due to their high precision, low cost, and small volume requirements. The inherent heterogeneity of cancer, where multiple genotypes and phenotypes can exist within the same tumor, requires emphasis on single-cell-based characterization techniques. Single-cell characterization systems dedicated to fast biophysical analysis of tumor-derived cells in addition to the existing techniques could significantly improve the state of early cancer diagnosis.
ISSN:0167-7799
1879-3096
DOI:10.1016/j.tibtech.2018.02.007