Fractal and image analysis of cytoskeletal changes in tumour cells due to the effects of maspin

Maspin (SERPINB5) is a type II metastasis suppressor that influences multiple cellular functions. To date, maspin has been shown to increase adhesion and apoptosis and to decrease cell migration, proliferation, invasion and metastases in tumour malignancy. At the subcellular level, maspin influences morphological changes in the cell cytoskeleton which regulates complex biological processes including cell migration, cell adhesion and EMT (epithelial to mesenchymal transition). Here non-Euclidian fractal and image analyses have been applied to measure changes in the actin cytoskeleton using confocal microscopy images to confirm the effects of maspin. Results show that maspin contributes to maintaining the regular epithelial like shape, increases cell-cell adhesion and restricts tumour cells from showing the pre-migration and EMT characteristics. Characterization of these changes in the actin cytoskeleton using microscopic image analysis will establish maspin as a potential prognostic marker in future.