Screening between normal and cancer human thyroid cells through comparative adhesion studies using the Quartz Crystal Microbalance

Abstract

In this work, the Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) was used to distinguish the dynamic cell adhesion behavior of human normal (Nthy) thyroid epithelial cells from poorly differentiated anaplastic carcinoma cells (ARO). The surfaces used to facilitate cell adhesion were bare titanium (Ti), gold (Au) and fibrinogen-coated gold (Fg-Au). The pattern of cell adhesion for both cell lines was that the largest acoustic signals were observed on Ti, followed by Au and last by Fg-Au; in addition, ARO cells always produced smaller acoustic signals than Nthy cells on the same surface and for the same number of cells in suspension. Moreover, the calculated acoustic ratio of energy dissipation over frequency change suggests a higher ability of Nthy cells to spread and potentially form more attachment points on the surface than the ARO cells, something observed in SEM images. Finally, we demonstrated that the application of two surfaces for cell adhesion experiments, one of which is Au and the other either Ti or Fg-Au, can discriminate with accuracy between the two particular cell types and potentially form a platform for differentiation between normal and cancer thyroid cell types. Keywords: QCM-D, Microscopy, Thyroid cancer cells, Gold, Titanium, Fibrinogen, Diagnostics