Estrogen Modulates Epithelial Breast Cancer Cell Mechanics and Cell-to-Cell Contacts.

ABSTRACT: Excessive estrogen exposure is connected with increased risk of breast cancer and has been shown to promote epithelial-mesenchymal-transition. Malignant cancer cells accumulate changes in cell mechanical and biochemical properties, often leading to cell softening. In this work we have employed atomic force microscopy to probe the influence of estrogen on the viscoelastic properties of MCF-7 breast cancer cells cultured either in normal or hormone free-medium. Estrogen led to a significant softening of the cells in all studied cases, while growing cells in hormone free medium led to an increase in the studied elastic and viscoelastic moduli. In addition, fluorescence microscopy shows that E-cadherin distribution is changed in cells when culturing them under estrogenic conditions. Furthermor

SUBMITTER: Zbiral B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8198807 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature