Since cell-substrate interaction is directly related to the traction force of the cell, the cell property can be judged from the imprint it leaves on the soft substrate surface onto which the cell is cultured. In this letter, the evolvement of the cell-substrate interaction over time was observed by cultivating cells on a 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (gamma-APTES) modified silicon dioxide (SiO2) surface for different periods of time. The cell-substrate interaction property as a function of time can then be found from the post-cell-removal surface morphology profiles determined by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Different surface morphology profiles were found between normal cells and cancer cells. It was found that the cancer cells tend to form deeper trenches along the circumference of the imprints, while the normal cells do not. In addition, our results indicated that normal cells involve cell-substrate interaction mechanisms that are different from those for cancer cells. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.