Detection of peripheral blood circulating tumor cells in oral squamous cell carcinoma and its clinical significance / 华西口腔医学杂志

OBJECTIVES@#This study aims to investigate the diagnostic value of peripheral blood circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and its correlation with the clinicopathological features of OSCC.@*METHODS@#Ninety-three patients diagnosed as OSCC in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from May 2019 to May 2020 were selected as the experimental group, and 20 healthy volunteers were employed as the control group. The CTCs value of peripheral blood of the patients were measured by CTCs detection technology, and its clinical significance was analyzed.@*RESULTS@#The CTCs values in the experimental group were higher than those in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (@*CONCLUSIONS@#Peripheral blood CTCs has important clinical value for early screening, auxiliary diagnosis, evaluation of metastasis, and determination of malignant degree, progression, and pathological grade of OSCC and a relatively reliable tumor detection indicator.

Matrix stiffness regulates cell uptake of nanoparticles in 2D and 3D cultures of breast cancer cells / 药学学报

Fluorescent polystyrene nanospheres (PS) were used to explore the impact of substrate stiffness on cell uptake of nanoparticles in the breast cancer cells. Polyacrylamide (PAA) gels with varying stiffness were prepared by photopolymerization, and type I rat tail collagen was covalently conjugated on the surface of PAA gels to facilitate cell adhesion. Type I rat tail collagen was also used to fabricate collagen gels for 3D cell culture. Cells of human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 were incubated in the 2D culture on PAA gels and 3D culture within collagen gels. Next, nanospheres of 20 nm and 50 nm polystyrene were applied to MCF-7 cells in the 2D or 3D cultures. Cell morphology and uptake efficiency were observed with confocal microscopy. Our study demonstrates that substrate stiffness differentially regulated the cell morphology as well as the cell uptake behavior of polystyrene nanospheres in MCF-7 cells under 2D or 3D culture conditions.