Benjamin L Krog

TL;DR: This chapter examines in detail the question of whether CTCs are mechanically fragile, a commonly held idea that is lacking in direct evidence, and presents emerging evidence that malignant epithelial cells, as opposed to their benign counterparts, possess specific mechanisms that enable them to endure mechanical stresses.

TL;DR: In this article, a fluid handling system for applying a plurality of pulses of fluid shear stress to a fluid sample may comprise a first sample chamber, a second sample chamber; a pluralityof conduits mounted between and in fluid communication with the first sample and the second sample chambers; and a force delivery system mounted to the first sampled chamber and configured to apply a force sufficient to push the fluid sample from the first sampling chamber through each of the conduits at a substantially constant flow rate to the second sampling chamber.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an apparatus and methods for selectively lysing cells from a cell suspension including disassociating a population of cells from tissue sample, exposing the population of the cells to at least one pulse of fluid shear stress having a force along a conduit wall of from about 500 dyn/cm2 to about 2500 dyn/ cm2 to substantially lyse the populations of one or more dead or dying cells.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that cancer cells activate the RhoA-myosin II axis in response to FSS, which protects them from FSS-induced plasma membrane damage and indicates that viable CTCs actively resist destruction by hemodynamic forces and are likely to be more mechanically robust than is commonly thought.