Evaluation of the Impact of Imprinted Polymer Particles on Morphology and Motility of Breast Cancer Cells by Using Digital Holographic Cytometry

Abstract

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer type worldwide and breast cancer metastasis accounts for the majority of breast cancer-related deaths. Tumour cells produce increased levels of sialic acid (SA) that terminates the monosaccharide on glycan chains of the glycosylated proteins. SA can contribute to cellular recognition, cancer invasiveness and increase the metastatic potential of cancer cells. SA-templated molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have been proposed as promising reporters for specific targeting of cancer cells when deployed in nanoparticle format. The sialic acid-molecularly imprinted polymers (SA-MIPs), which use SA for the generation of binding sites through which the nanoparticles can target and stain breast cancer cells, opens new strategies for efficient diagnostic tools. This study aims at monitoring the effects of SA-MIPs on morphology and motility of the epithelial type MCF-7 and the highly metastatic MDAMB231 breast cancer cell lines, using digital holographic cytometry (DHC). DHC is a label-free technique that is used in cell morphology studies of e.g., cell volume, area and thickness as well as in motility studies. Here, we show that MCF-7 cells move slower than MDAMB231 cells. We also show that SA-MIPs have an effect on cell morphology, motility and viability of both cell lines. In conclusion, by using DH microscopy, we could detect SA-MIPs impact on different breast cancer cells regarding morphology and motility.