Institut für Biophysik

Replacement of the cantilever tip by a living cell in Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) experiments permits the direct quantification of cell–substrate and cell–cell adhesion forces. This so-called single-cell probe force measurement technique has been employed in this work to differentiate between the adhesive capacities of parental and Sox2-overexpressing MCF7 breast cancer cells, having the latter a higher capacity for invasion and better resistance to endocrine therapy in vivo. Our findings demonstrate the strength of this combined approach to assess and compare the adhesion properties of different cell lines.

Cytolytic toxin (Cyt) is a toxin among Bacillus thuringiensis insecticidal proteins. Cyt toxin directly interacts with membrane lipids for cytolytic action. However, low hemolytic activity is desired to avoid non-specific effects in mammals. The research article "Protein-Lipid Interaction of Cytolytic Toxin Cyt2Aa2 on Model Lipid Bilayers of Erythrocyte Cell Membrane" investigates the interaction of two Cyt2Aa2 Proteins, the WT and the less hemolytic T144A Mutant, with model Lipid bilayers and erythrocyte membranes.