Quantifying cellular mechanics and adhesion in renal tubular injury using single cell force spectroscopy

The current study bridges mechanics with biology; utilising human kidney (HK2) proximal tubule cells to study TGF-β1 induced changes in E-cadherin mediated cell-adhesion, early changes linked to instigation of tubular injury in the diabetic kidney. Atomic force microscopy was utilised to quantitatively characterise E-cadherin mediated cell-to-cell adhesion and single cell elasticity of control versus TGF-β1 treated cells. Our results highlight a role for elasticity and cytomechanics in TGF-β1 evoked changes in cell-to-cell adhesion. Part of the graphical abstract is Figure 5, C and D, the human body image is from imagesource.com (Royalty free).91