The Influence of Biomechanical Properties and Cannabinoids on Tumor Invasion

Methods : 3 different glioblastoma cell lines were treated with cannabinoids and changes of mechanical and migratory properties of single cells were measured using atomic force microscopy and time lapse imaging. The invasiveness of cell lines was determined using a co-culture model with organotypic hippocampal slice cultures. Results : We found that cannabinoids are capable of influencing migratory and mechanical properties in a cell line specific manner.

A network analysis revealed a correlation between a “generalized stiffness” and the invasiveness for all tumor cell lines after 3 and 4 days of invasion time: r 3d =− 0.88 [−0.52;−0.97]; r 4d =− 0.90 [−0.59;−0.98]. Conclusions : Here we could show that a “generalized stiffness” is a profound marker for the invasiveness of a tumor cell population in our model and thus might be of high clinical relevance for drug testing.

Additionally cannabinoids were shown to be of potential use for therapeutic approaches of glioblastoma.