Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are currently widely used and further developed for biological applications. The MIP synthesis procedure is a key process, and a wide variety of protocols exis...

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.

Increased exposition to blue light may induce many changes in cell behavior and significantly affect the critical characteristics of cells. Here we show that multimodal holographic microscopy (MHM) within advanced image analysis is capable of correctly distinguishing between changes in cell motility, cell dry mass, cell density, and cell death induced by blue light. We focused on the effect of blue light with a wavelength of 485 nm on morphological and dynamical parameters of four cell lines, malignant PC-3, A2780, G361 cell lines, and the benign PNT1A cell line. We used MHM with blue light doses 24 mJ/cm², 208 mJ/cm² and two kinds of expositions (500 and 1000 ms) to acquire real-time quantitative phase information about cellular parameters. It has been shown that specific doses of the blue light significantly influence cell motility, cell dry mass and cell density. These changes were often specific for the malignant status of tested cells. Blue light dose 208 mJ/cm² × 1000 ms affected malignant cell motility but did not change the motility of benign cell line PNT1A. This light dose also significantly decreased proliferation activity in all tested cell lines but was not so deleterious for benign cell line PNT1A as for malignant cells. Light dose 208 mJ/cm² × 1000 ms oppositely affected cell mass in A2780 and PC-3 cells and induced different types of cell death in A2780 and G361 cell lines. Cells obtained the least damage on lower doses of light with shorter time of exposition.

Background: Combination therapies for cancer have gained considerable attention due to their potential for enhancing therapeutic efficacy and decreasing drug resistance. Introducing nanodrug delivery systems in this context may further improve the therapy due to targeted delivery, improved drug stability, sustained drug release, and prevention of rapid clearance from circulation. This study evaluates the combinatorial effects of two cytotoxic drugs, cabazitaxel (CBZ) and RSL3 (RAS-selective lethal 3), in free form as well as encapsulated within poly(2-ethyl butyl cyanoacrylate) (PEBCA) nanoparticles (NPs) in breast cancer cell lines. Methods: Cell proliferation was assessed using IncuCyte technology, and synergistic drug effects were determined with SynergyFinder Plus. Cell viability was measured with the MTT assay. Additionally, we investigated whether the combinatorial effects were reflected in alterations of metabolic activity or reactive oxygen species (ROS) production using Seahorse technology and the CM-H₂DCFDA assay, respectively. Results: The data presented reveal, for the first time, that CBZ and RSL3 exhibit synergistically or additively combinatorial effects on various breast cancer cell lines. The pattern of cytotoxic effects was consistent, whether the drugs were in free form or encapsulated in NPs. Moreover, the combinatorial effects were not observed to be associated with early changes in metabolic activity or ROS production. Conclusion: This study highlights the potential of CBZ and RSL3 in combinatorial nanomedicine as they may act synergistically. Further studies are warranted to better understand the mechanisms behind these combinatorial effects.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most metastatic disease with the majority of cases detected in Western countries. Metastases are formed by circulating altered phenotype tumor cells causing 20% of CRC related deaths. Metastatic cells may show higher expression of surface molecules such as CD44, and changes in morphological properties are associated with increased invasiveness and poor prognosis. In this study, we intended to mimic the environment for metastasizing cells. Here, we used digital holographic cytometry (DHC) analysis to determine cellular morphological properties of three metastatic and two non-metastatic colorectal cancer cell lines to show differences in morphology between the CRC cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). By establishing differences in cell area, cell thickness, cell volume, and cell irregularity even when the CRC cells were in minority (5% out of PBMCs), DHC does discriminate between CRC cells and the PBMCs in vitro. We also analyzed the epithelial marker EpCAM and migration marker CD44 using flow cytometry and demonstrate that the CRC cell lines and PBMC cells differ in EpCAM and CD44 expression. Here, we present DHC as a new powerful tool in discriminating cells of different sizes in suspension together with a combination of biomarkers.