PyScratch: An ease of use tool for analysis of scratch assays

Cationic solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) complexed with plasmid DNA enhance prostate cancer cells (PC-3) migration

Nanotechnology applications in biomedicine have increased in recent decades, primarily as therapeutic agents, drugs, and gene delivery systems. Among the nanoparticles used in medicine, we highlight cationic solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN). Given their nontoxic properties, much research has focused on the beneficial effects of SLN for drug or gene delivery system. However, little attention has been paid to the adverse impacts of SLN on the cellular environment, particularly their influence on intracellular signaling pathways. In this work, we investigate the effects triggered by cationic SLN on human prostate non-tumor cells (PNT1A) and tumor cells (PC-3). Our results demonstrate that cationic SLN enhances the migration of PC-3 prostate cancer cells but not PNT1A non-tumor prostate cells, an unexpected and unprecedented development. Furthermore, we observed that the enhanced cell migration velocity is a concentration-dependent and nanoparticle-dependent effect, and not related to any individual nanoparticle component. Moreover, cationic SLN increased vimentin expression (p < 0.05) but SLN did not affect Smad2 nuclear translocation. Meanwhile, EMT-related (epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition) proteins, such as ZEB1, underwent nuclear translocation when treated with cationic SLN, thereby affecting PC-3 cell motility through ZEB1 and vimentin modulation. From a therapeutic perspective, cationic SLN could potentially worsen a patient's condition if these results were reproduced in vivo. Understanding the in vitro molecular mechanisms triggered by nanomaterials and their implications for cell function is crucial for defining their safe and effective use.

3D printed inserts for reproducible high throughput screening of cell migration

Cell migration is a fundamental and complex phenomenon that occurs in normal physiology and in diseases like cancer. Hence, understanding cell migration is very important in the fields of developmental biology and biomedical sciences. Cell migration occurs in 3 dimensions (3D) and involves an interplay of migrating cell(s), neighboring cells, extracellular matrix, and signaling molecules. To understand this phenomenon, most of the currently available techniques still rely on 2-dimensional (2D) cell migration assay, also known as the scratch assay or the wound healing assay. These methods suffer from limited reproducibility in creating a cell-free region (a scratch or a wound). Mechanical/heat related stress to cells is another issue which hampers the applicability of these methods. To tackle these problems, we developed an alternative method based on 3D printed biocompatible cell inserts, for quantifying cell migration in 24-well plates. The inserts were successfully validated via a high throughput assay for following migration of lung cancer cell line (A549 cell line) in the presence of standard cell migration promoters and inhibitors. We also developed an accompanying image analysis pipeline which demonstrated that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art methodologies for assessing the cell migration in terms of reproducibility and simplicity.

Biogenic silver nanoparticles: In vitro and in vivo antitumor activity in bladder cancer

Bladder cancer is the fifth most common disease in the United States, and the treatment and alternatives for patients have not changed in the last decades. Silver nanoparticles (AgNP) have been used in the treatment of various cancer, mainly because of the antineoplastic activity; however, their use and the molecular mechanisms towards bladder cancer still unexplored. Therefore, this work aims to evaluate the in vitro and in vivo antitumoral mechanisms of biogenic silver nanoparticles synthesized from Fusarium sp. First, AgNP showed cytotoxicity in a dose- and time-response relationship and detailed analysis demonstrated the induction of cell death via apoptosis, also inhibiting cell migration and proliferation in bladder carcinoma cell line 5637. Next, it was evaluated the antitumoral activity of AgNP against non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Bladder cancer was chemically induced with N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) on C57BL/6JUnib female mice and treated by intravesical route with AgNP concentrations of 0.5, 0.2, and 0.05 mg/mL. Finally, treatment with AgNP (0.05 mg/mL) led to 57.13% of tumor regression, with 14.28% of the animals showing normal urothelium, and 42.85% showing flat hyperplasia, considered to be a benign lesion. Overall, these findings demonstrated that AgNP might be a cost-effective alternative and promising candidate for the treatment of bladder cancer.