Circulating tumour cells deformability measurement in microfluidics

During the last years, the deformability characterization of non-adherent cells like circulating tumour cells (CTCs) and immune cells gained a lot of attention since mechanical forces regulate the deformation, organization, and translocation of cytoskeleton leading to changes in T-cell mobility, migration, and infiltration. However, deformability measurements on non-adherent cells is challenging since any kind of contact between a physical probe or substrate could induce alterations into the cell state and then deformability outcome. Thus, new strategies are needed to overcome such problems. Inflow viscoelastic compression represents a straightforward way to deform CTCs and immune cells in a controlled and contactless manner. Here, we present a study of cell deformability by application of such viscoelastic compression forces on CTCs and healthy lymphocytes, eliciting a higher deformability of cancer cells with respect to healthy lymphocytes. Thus, our approach opens up to the possibility to characterize and distinguish CTCs and healthy lymphocytes depending on the resulting deformability in a rapid and versatile way.