A general approach for the microrheology of cancer cells by atomic force microscopy

► A general model to obtain the viscoelastic properties of a cell using AFM is proposed. ► It is exact for any time dependent displacement of the cantilever head. ► Its application to cancer cell reveals a short time relaxation not observed before. ► A power law model does not properly describe the creep relaxation function. ► A cut-off frequency appears in the shear modulus.