Dr Andrew E. Ekpenyong

Associate Professor of Physics. BPhil (Rome), BD (Rome), MS (Physics, Creighton, USA), PhD (Physics, Cambridge, UK)



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Dr Andrew Edet Ekpenyong

Associate Professor of Physics


Curriculum vitae



Office Phone: +14022802208


Physics

Creighton University

2500 California Plaza,
Omaha,
NE 68178,
USA




Dr Andrew E. Ekpenyong

Associate Professor of Physics. BPhil (Rome), BD (Rome), MS (Physics, Creighton, USA), PhD (Physics, Cambridge, UK)



Office Phone: +14022802208


Physics

Creighton University

2500 California Plaza,
Omaha,
NE 68178,
USA



Microfluidic Microcirculation Mimetic for Exploring Biophysical Mechanisms of Chemotherapy-Induced Metastasis


Journal article


A. Abraham, S. Virdi, Nick Herrero, Israel Bryant, Chisom Nwakama, Megha Jacob, Gargee Khaparde, Destiny Jordan, Mackenzie McCuddin, Spencer Mckinley, Adam Taylor, Conner Peeples, Andrew E. Ekpenyong
Micromachines, 2023

Semantic Scholar DOI PubMedCentral PubMed
Cite

Cite

APA   Click to copy
Abraham, A., Virdi, S., Herrero, N., Bryant, I., Nwakama, C., Jacob, M., … Ekpenyong, A. E. (2023). Microfluidic Microcirculation Mimetic for Exploring Biophysical Mechanisms of Chemotherapy-Induced Metastasis. Micromachines.


Chicago/Turabian   Click to copy
Abraham, A., S. Virdi, Nick Herrero, Israel Bryant, Chisom Nwakama, Megha Jacob, Gargee Khaparde, et al. “Microfluidic Microcirculation Mimetic for Exploring Biophysical Mechanisms of Chemotherapy-Induced Metastasis.” Micromachines (2023).


MLA   Click to copy
Abraham, A., et al. “Microfluidic Microcirculation Mimetic for Exploring Biophysical Mechanisms of Chemotherapy-Induced Metastasis.” Micromachines, 2023.


BibTeX   Click to copy

@article{a2023a,
  title = {Microfluidic Microcirculation Mimetic for Exploring Biophysical Mechanisms of Chemotherapy-Induced Metastasis},
  year = {2023},
  journal = {Micromachines},
  author = {Abraham, A. and Virdi, S. and Herrero, Nick and Bryant, Israel and Nwakama, Chisom and Jacob, Megha and Khaparde, Gargee and Jordan, Destiny and McCuddin, Mackenzie and Mckinley, Spencer and Taylor, Adam and Peeples, Conner and Ekpenyong, Andrew E.}
}

Abstract

There is rapidly emerging evidence from pre-clinical studies, patient samples and patient subpopulations that certain chemotherapeutics inadvertently produce prometastatic effects. Prior to this, we showed that doxorubicin and daunorubicin stiffen cells before causing cell death, predisposing the cells to clogging and extravasation, the latter being a step in metastasis. Here, we investigate which other anti-cancer drugs might have similar prometastatic effects by altering the biophysical properties of cells. We treated myelogenous (K562) leukemic cancer cells with the drugs nocodazole and hydroxyurea and then measured their mechanical properties using a microfluidic microcirculation mimetic (MMM) device, which mimics aspects of blood circulation and enables the measurement of cell mechanical properties via transit times through the device. We also quantified the morphological properties of cells to explore biophysical mechanisms underlying the MMM results. Results from MMM measurements show that nocodazole- and hydroxyurea-treated K562 cells exhibit significantly altered transit times. Nocodazole caused a significant (p < 0.01) increase in transit times, implying a stiffening of cells. This work shows the feasibility of using an MMM to explore possible biophysical mechanisms that might contribute to chemotherapy-induced metastasis. Our work also suggests cell mechanics as a therapeutic target for much needed antimetastatic strategies in general.


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