A Brief Review of the Biophysical Hallmarks of Metastatic Cancer Cells.

A hallmark of metastatic cancer cells is their invasion through the basal membrane and endothelial layer, which requires a highly elastic cytoskeleton and nucleus. Therefore, cellular deformability can serve as a universal biophysical marker for detecting a tumor's propensity for invasion, migration, and metastasis. In this review, we define the importance of the biophysical features of cancer cells in tumor metastasis and summarize the state-of-the-art technology for the study of cell biomechanics. This review will serve as a brief introduction to the interdisciplinary character of cancer cell biophysics for cancer biologists, physicists, and engineers.