APPARATUS FOR ANALYZING CANCER CELLS USING CELL SURFACE MICROSTRUCTURE ANALYSIS

The present invention relates to an apparatus for analyzing cancer cells using cell surface microstructure analysis, and more particularly, to an apparatus for analyzing cancer cells, comprising: an atomic force microscope (AFM) for observing the surface of a specimen cell; a first calculation unit for extracting a cell boundary from the image of the surface of the specimen cell observed by the AFM; and a second calculation unit for calculating a fractal dimension (FD) from the extracted cell boundary. The apparatus for analyzing cancer cells according to the present invention analyzes the fractal dimension for the microstructure of the cell boundary, and the microstructure of the surface of a disease cell, such as a tumor cell, has a unique FD value which is different from that of a normal cell. Particularly, a metastatic cancer cell tends to have a fractal dimension remarkably lower than that of a non-metastatic cancer cell. Thus, the apparatus of the present invention collects FD information on an ultra-low volume of tumor cells, and effectively uses the collected information in predicting and diagnosing various characteristics of tumor cells such as the progression of tumor cells, and whether tumor cells are malignant or benign. In addition, the apparatus of the present invention can measure, at a nanoscale level, the structure of surfaces of live cells, and therefore can be valuably used in the development of biological tools for the study of cells, that is, for the analysis of the ultra-microstructures of the surfaces of cells.