Despite of intensive research efforts, the precise mechanism of prostate cancer metastasis in bone is still not fully understood. Several studies have suggested that specific matrix production by the bone cells, such as collagen I, supports cancer cell invasion. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of collagen I (COL1) and fibronectin (FN) on cell adhesion, cell elasticity and cytoskeletal organization of prostate cancer cells. Two cell lines, bone marrow- (PC3) and lymph node-derived (LNCaP) were cultivated on COL1 and FN (control protein). By using a quantitative adhesion assay and time-lapse analysis, it was found that PC3, but not LNCaP, adhered strongly and were more spread on COL1. Next, PC3 and LNCaP were evaluated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and flatness shape factor and cellular Young's modulus were calculated. The shape analysis revealed that PC3 were significantly flatter when grown on COL1 in comparison to LNCaP. In general, PC3 were also significantly stiffer than LNCaP and furthermore, their stiffness increased upon interaction with COL1. Since cell stiffness is strongly dependent on actin organization, phalloidin-based actin staining was performed and revealed that, of the two cell types as well as the two different matrix proteins, only PC3 grown on COL1 formed robust actin cytoskeleton. In conclusion, our study showed that PC3 cells have a strong affinity towards COL1. On this matrix protein, the cells adhered strongly and underwent a specific cell flattening. Moreover, with the establishment of PC3 contact to COL1 a significant increase of PC3 stiffness was observed due to a profound cytoskeletal rearrangement. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.