Dynamic states of adhering cancer cells under shear flow in an antibody-functionalized microchannel

Dynamic states of cancer cells moving under shear flow in an antibody-functionalized microchannel are investigated experimentally and theoretically. A simplified physical model was adopted to analyze the cell motion; it features a rigid sphere, with receptors on its surface, moving above a solid surface with distributed ligands. The cell motion is described by the Langevin equation where the hydrodynamic interactions, gravitational drift force, receptor-ligand binding force, and thermal fluctuations are all taken into account. The receptor-ligand bonds are modeled as Hookean springs. In this study, three dynamic states of cell motion have been identified: (i) free motion, (ii) rolling adhesion, and (iii) firm adhesion depending on the flow shear rate. The numerical simulations allow exploring effects of numerous parameters such as cell-receptor and surface-ligand density.