Exercise affects platelet-promoted tumor cell adhesion and invasion to endothelium

Physical activity prevents tumor metastasis through modulation of immune function

Metastasis is responsible for 90% of deaths in cancer patients. Most patients diagnosed with metastatic cancer will die within 5 years. PA is good for health and has become an emerging adjuvant therapy for cancer survivors. Regular moderate exercise substantially lowers the incidence and recurrence of several cancers, alleviates cancer-related adverse events, enhances the efficacy of anti-cancer treatments, and improves the quality of life of cancer patients. Revealing the mechanisms of PA inhibiting tumor metastasis could upgrade our understanding of cancer biology and help researchers explore new therapeutic strategies to improve survival in cancer patients. However, it remains poorly understood how physical activity prevents metastasis by modulating tumor behavior. The immune system is involved in each step of tumor metastasis. From invasion to colonization, immune cells interact with tumor cells to secret cytokines and proteases to remodel the tumor microenvironment. Substantial studies demonstrated the ability of physical activity to induce antitumor effects of immune cells. This provides the possibility that physical activity can modulate immune cells behavior to attenuate tumor metastasis. The purpose of this review is to discuss and summarize the critical link between immune function and exercise in metastasis prevention.

3D-Printed electrochemical sensor-integrated transwell systems

This work presents a 3D-printed, modular, electrochemical sensor-integrated transwell system for monitoring cellular and molecular events in situ without sample extraction or microfluidics-assisted downstream omics. Simple additive manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing, shadow masking, and molding are used to fabricate this modular system, which is autoclavable, biocompatible, and designed to operate following standard operating protocols (SOPs) of cellular biology. Integral to the platform is a flexible porous membrane, which is used as a cell culture substrate similarly to a commercial transwell insert. Multimodal electrochemical sensors fabricated on the membrane allow direct access to cells and their products. A pair of gold electrodes on the top side of the membrane measures impedance over the course of cell attachment and growth, characterized by an exponential decrease (~160% at 10 Hz) due to an increase in the double layer capacitance from secreted extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) sensor electrodes, fabricated on the bottom side of the membrane, enable sensing of molecular release at the site of cell culture without the need for downstream fluidics. Real-time detection of ferrocene dimethanol injection across the membrane showed a three order-of-magnitude higher signal at the membrane than in the bulk media after reaching equilibrium. This modular sensor-integrated transwell system allows unprecedented direct, real-time, and noninvasive access to physical and biochemical information, which cannot be obtained in a conventional transwell system.

RGD-Binding Integrins in Head and Neck Cancers

Alterations in integrin expression and function promote tumour growth, invasion, metastasis and neoangiogenesis. Head and neck cancers are highly vascular tumours with a tendency to metastasise. They express a wide range of integrin receptors. Expression of the αv and β1 subunits has been explored relatively extensively and linked to tumour progression and metastasis. Individual receptors αvβ3 and αvβ5 have proved popular targets for diagnostic and therapeutic agents but lesser studied receptors, such as αvβ6, αvβ8, and β1 subfamily members, also show promise. This review presents the current knowledge of integrin expression and function in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC), with a particular focus on the arginine-glycine-aspartate (RGD)-binding integrins, in order to highlight the potential of integrins as targets for personalised tumour-specific identification and therapy.

Sevoflurane attenuates platelets activation of patients undergoing lung cancer surgery and suppresses platelets-induced invasion of lung cancer cells

STUDY OBJECTIVE

Platelets play a pivotal role in metastasis of tumor cells. The aim of this study is to explore the effects of sevoflurane and isoflurane on platelets activation of patients undergoing lung cancer surgery, and the effects of sevoflurane and isoflurane on platelets-induced invasion of lung cancer cells.

DESIGN

Prospective and randomized study, and in vitro experiment.

SETTING

University-affiliated teaching hospital and laboratory.

PATIENTS

Forty-six patients scheduled for lung cancer radical surgery.

INTERVENTIONS

Patients were randomized to two groups of 23 patients each and were received sevoflurane (group SEV) or isoflurane (group ISO) during surgery, respectively. In vitro, lung cancer cells were treated with platelets in the presence or absence anesthetics.

MEASUREMENTS

Platelets activation were determined by detecting glycoproteinIIb/IIIa (GPIIb/IIIa), CD62P, and platelets aggregation rate (PAR) pre-, intra-, and postoperatively. Invasion ability of lung cancer cells were evaluated by Transwell assay.

RESULTS

The levels of GPIIb/IIIa, CD62P, and PAR were reduced markedly in group SEV during perioperative period compared with group ISO. In vitro, activated platelets contributed profoundly to the invasive ability of lung cancer cells. Sevoflurane, but not isoflurane, inhibited platelets-induced invasion of lung cancer cells. Furthermore, sevoflurane suppressed the platelets activity in vitro.

CONCLUSION

Sevoflurane attenuates platelets activation of patients undergoing lung cancer surgery. In vitro, sevoflurane suppresses platelets-induced invasion of lung cancer cells via decreasing platelets activity.

Crosstalk of cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts in co-cultures

Electromechanical function of cardiac muscle depends critically on the crosstalk of myocytes with non-myocytes. Upon cardiac fibrosis, fibroblasts translocate into infarcted necrotic tissue and alter their communication capabilities. In the present in vitro study, we determined a multiple parameter space relevant for fibrotic cardiac tissue development comprising the following essential processes: (i) adhesion to substrates with varying elasticity, (ii) dynamics of contractile function, and (iii) electromechanical connectivity. By combining electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) with conventional optical microscopy, we could measure the impact of fibroblast–cardiomyocyte ratio on the aforementioned parameters in a non-invasive fashion. Adhesion to electrodes was quantified via spreading rates derived from impedance changes, period analysis allowed us to measure contraction dynamics and modulations of the barrier resistance served as a measure of connectivity. In summary, we claim that: (i) a preferred window for substrate elasticity around 7 kPa for low fibroblast content exists, which is shifted to stiffer substrates with increasing fibroblast fractions. (ii) Beat frequency decreases nonlinearly with increasing fraction of fibroblasts, while (iii) the intercellular resistance increases with a maximal functional connectivity at 75% fibroblasts. For the first time, cardiac cell–cell junction density-dependent connectivity in co-cultures of cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts was quantified using ECIS.

A quantitative cell modeling and wound-healing analysis based on the Electric Cell-substrate Impedance Sensing (ECIS) method

In this paper, a quantitative modeling and wound-healing analysis of fibroblast and human keratinocyte cells is presented. Our study was conducted using a continuous cellular impedance monitoring technique, dubbed Electric Cell-substrate Impedance Sensing (ECIS). In fact, we have constructed a mathematical model for quantitatively analyzing the cultured cell growth using the time series data directly derived by ECIS in a previous work. In this study, the applicability of our model into the keratinocyte cell growth modeling analysis was assessed first. In addition, an electrical "wound-healing" assay was used as a means to evaluate the healing process of keratinocyte cells at a variety of pressures. Two innovative and new-defined indicators, dubbed cell power and cell electroactivity, respectively, were developed for quantitatively characterizing the biophysical behavior of cells. We then employed the wavelet transform method to perform a multi-scale analysis so the cell power and cell electroactivity across multiple observational time scales may be captured. Numerical results indicated that our model can well fit the data measured from the keratinocyte cell culture for cell growth modeling analysis. Also, the results produced by our quantitative analysis showed that the wound healing process was the fastest at the negative pressure of 125mmHg, which consistently agreed with the qualitative analysis results reported in previous works.