Probing mechanical behaviors of chronic myeloid leukemia cells in doxorubicin resistance by robotic manipulation with optical tweezers

Cell mechanics are correlated with cell functions, and are regarded as an effective biomarker indicating onset and progression of diseases. Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is defined as a myeloproliferative disorder, expressed as increased proliferation of the granulocytic cells in blood and bone marrow. Chemotherapy drug resistance is a major obstacle to the treatment of CML. However, information associated with the cellular mechanical behavior of CML cells in chemotherapy drug resistance is not well understood. In this paper, the mechanical behaviors of CML cells and their drug-resistant counterparts is probed using optical tweezers technology. Experimental results show that CML drug-resistant cells are stiffer than CML cells. Alteration of mechanical behavior of cells is affected by the actin cytoskeleton. The cell microstructural model is used to model the mechanical response of cells of these two types and further extract the structural parameters of the actin cytoskeleton. These findings verify to some extent that mechanical behavior of cancer cells can be a potential marker for chemotherapy drug sensitivity.