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Rosado-Galindo H, Domenech M. Surface roughness modulates EGFR signaling and stemness of triple-negative breast cancer cells. Front Cell Dev Biol 2023; 11:1124250. [PMID: 36968199 PMCID: PMC10030610 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2023.1124250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2022] [Accepted: 02/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction: Cancer stem cells (CSC), a major culprit of drug-resistant phenotypes and tumor relapse, represent less than 2 % of the bulk of TNBC cells, making them difficult to isolate, study, and thus, limiting our understanding of the pathogenesis of the disease. Current methods for CSC enrichment, such as 3D spheroid culture, genetic modification, and stem cell conditioning, are time consuming, expensive, and unsuitable for high-throughput assays. One way to address these limitations is to use topographical stimuli to enhance CSC populations in planar culture. Physical cues in the breast tumor microenvironment can influence cell behavior through changes in the mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix (ECM). In this study, we used topographical cues on polystyrene films to investigate their effect on the proteome and stemness of standard TNBC cell lines. Methods: The topographical polystyrene-based array was generated using razor printing and polishing methods. Proteome data were analyzed and enriched bioprocesses were identified using R software. Stemness was assessed measuring CD44, CD24 and ALDH markers using flow cytometry, immunofluorescence, detection assays, and further validated with mammosphere assay. EGF/EGFR expression and activity was evaluated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immunofluorescence and antibody membrane array. A dose-response assay was performed to further investigate the effect of surface topography on the sensitivity of cells to the EGFR inhibitor. Results: Surface roughness enriched the CSC population and modulated epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling activity in TNBC cells. Enhanced proliferation of MDA-MB-468 cells in roughness correlated with upregulation of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) ligand, which in turn corresponded with a 3-fold increase in the expression of EGFR and a 42% increase in its phosphorylation compared to standard smooth culture surfaces. The results also demonstrated that phenotypic changes associated with topographical (roughness) stimuli significantly decreased the drug sensitivity to the EGFR inhibitor gefitinib. In addition, the proportion of CD44+/CD24-/ALDH+ was enhanced on surface roughness in both MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468 cell lines. We also demonstrated that YAP/TAZ activation decreased in a roughness-dependent manner, confirming the mechanosensing effect of the topographies on the oncogenic activity of the cells. Discussion: Overall, this study demonstrates the potential of surface roughness as a culture strategy to influence oncogenic activity in TNBC cells and enrich CSC populations in planar cultures. Such a culture strategy may benefit high-throughput screening studies seeking to identify compounds with broader tumor efficacy.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Maribella Domenech
- Bioengineering Program, University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
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Slay EE, Meldrum FC, Pensabene V, Amer MH. Embracing Mechanobiology in Next Generation Organ-On-A-Chip Models of Bone Metastasis. FRONTIERS IN MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY 2021; 3:722501. [PMID: 35047952 PMCID: PMC8757701 DOI: 10.3389/fmedt.2021.722501] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2021] [Accepted: 08/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Bone metastasis in breast cancer is associated with high mortality. Biomechanical cues presented by the extracellular matrix play a vital role in driving cancer metastasis. The lack of in vitro models that recapitulate the mechanical aspects of the in vivo microenvironment hinders the development of novel targeted therapies. Organ-on-a-chip (OOAC) platforms have recently emerged as a new generation of in vitro models that can mimic cell-cell interactions, enable control over fluid flow and allow the introduction of mechanical cues. Biomaterials used within OOAC platforms can determine the physical microenvironment that cells reside in and affect their behavior, adhesion, and localization. Refining the design of OOAC platforms to recreate microenvironmental regulation of metastasis and probe cell-matrix interactions will advance our understanding of breast cancer metastasis and support the development of next-generation metastasis-on-a-chip platforms. In this mini-review, we discuss the role of mechanobiology on the behavior of breast cancer and bone-residing cells, summarize the current capabilities of OOAC platforms for modeling breast cancer metastasis to bone, and highlight design opportunities offered by the incorporation of mechanobiological cues in these platforms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ellen E. Slay
- School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
| | | | - Virginia Pensabene
- School of School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
- School of Medicine, Leeds Institute of Medical Research, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
| | - Mahetab H. Amer
- School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
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Daverey A, Levytskyy RM, Stanke KM, Viana MP, Swenson S, Hayward SL, Narasimhan M, Khalimonchuk O, Kidambi S. Depletion of mitochondrial protease OMA1 alters proliferative properties and promotes metastatic growth of breast cancer cells. Sci Rep 2019; 9:14746. [PMID: 31611601 PMCID: PMC6791882 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-49327-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2018] [Accepted: 08/14/2019] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Metastatic competence of cancer cells is influenced by many factors including metabolic alterations and changes in mitochondrial biogenesis and protein homeostasis. While it is generally accepted that mitochondria play important roles in tumorigenesis, the respective molecular events that regulate aberrant cancer cell proliferation remain to be clarified. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms underlying the role of mitochondria in cancer progression has potential implications in the development of new therapeutic strategies. We show that low expression of mitochondrial quality control protease OMA1 correlates with poor overall survival in breast cancer patients. Silencing OMA1 in vitro in patient-derived metastatic breast cancer cells isolated from the metastatic pleural effusion and atypical ductal hyperplasia mammary tumor specimens (21MT-1 and 21PT) enhances the formation of filopodia, increases cell proliferation (Ki67 expression), and induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Mechanistically, loss of OMA1 results in alterations in the mitochondrial protein homeostasis, as reflected by enhanced expression of canonic mitochondrial unfolded protein response genes. These changes significantly increase migratory properties in metastatic breast cancer cells, indicating that OMA1 plays a critical role in suppressing metastatic competence of breast tumors. Interestingly, these results were not observed in OMA1-depleted non-tumorigenic MCF10A mammary epithelial cells. This newly identified reduced activity/levels of OMA1 provides insights into the mechanisms leading to breast cancer development, promoting malignant progression of cancer cells and unfavorable clinical outcomes, which may represent possible prognostic markers and therapeutic targets for breast cancer treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amita Daverey
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, United States
| | - Roman M Levytskyy
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, United States
| | - Kimberly M Stanke
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, United States
| | | | - Samantha Swenson
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, United States
| | - Stephen L Hayward
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, United States
| | - Madhusudhanan Narasimhan
- Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX, United States
| | - Oleh Khalimonchuk
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, United States.
- Nebraska Redox Biology Center, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, United States.
- Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States.
- Nebraska Center for Integrated Biomolecular Communication, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, United States.
| | - Srivatsan Kidambi
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, United States.
- Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States.
- Nebraska Center for Integrated Biomolecular Communication, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, United States.
- Nebraska Center for the Prevention of Obesity Diseases, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, United States.
- Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, United States.
- Mary and Dick Holland Regenerative Medicine Program, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States.
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4
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Daverey A, Brown KM, Kidambi S. Breast Cancer/Stromal Cells Coculture on Polyelectrolyte Films Emulates Tumor Stages and miRNA Profiles of Clinical Samples. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2015; 31:9991-10001. [PMID: 26270351 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.5b02227] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
In this study, we demonstrate a method for controlling breast cancer cells adhesion on polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) films without the aid of adhesive proteins/ligands to study the role of tumor and stromal cell interaction on cancer biology. Numerous studies have explored engineering coculture of tumor and stromal cells predominantly using transwell coculture of stromal cells cultured onto coverslips that were subsequently added to tumor cell cultures. However, these systems imposed an artificial boundary that precluded cell-cell interactions. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of patterned coculture of tumor cells and stromal cells that captures the temporal changes in the miRNA signature as the breast tumor develops through various stages. In our study we used synthetic polymers, namely poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDAC) and sulfonated poly(styrene) (SPS), as the polycation and polyanion, respectively, to build PEMs. Breast cancer cells attached and spread preferentially on SPS surfaces while stromal cells attached to both SPS and PDAC surfaces. SPS patterns were formed on PEM surfaces, by either capillary force lithography (CFL) of SPS onto PDAC surfaces or vice versa, to obtain patterns of breast cancer cells and patterned cocultures of breast cancer and stromal cells. In this study, we utilized cancer cells derived from two different tumor stages and two different stromal cells to effectively model a heterogeneous tumor microenvironment and emulate various tumor stages. The coculture model mimics the proliferative index (Ki67 expression) and tumor aggressiveness (HER-2 expression) akin to those observed in clinical tumor samples. We also demonstrated that our patterned coculture model captures the temporal changes in the miRNA-21 and miRNA-34 signature as the breast tumor develops through various stages. The engineered coculture platform lays groundwork toward precision medicine wherein patient-derived tumor cells can be incorporated within our in vitro models to identify potential pathways and drug treatment regimens for individual patients.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Srivatsan Kidambi
- Mary and Dick Holland Regenerative Medicine Program, University of Nebraska Medical Center , Omaha, Nebraska 68198, United States
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Natarajan V, Berglund EJ, Chen DX, Kidambi S. Substrate stiffness regulates primary hepatocyte functions. RSC Adv 2015; 5:80956-80966. [PMID: 32733675 PMCID: PMC7392243 DOI: 10.1039/c5ra15208a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Liver fibrosis occurs as a consequence of chronic injuries from viral infections, metabolic disorders, and alcohol abuse. Fibrotic liver microenvironment (LME) is characterized by excessive deposition and aberrant turnover of extracellular matrix proteins, which leads to increased tissue stiffness. Liver stiffness acts as a vital cue in the regulation of hepatic responses in both healthy and diseased states; however, the effect of varying stiffness on liver cells is not well understood. There is a critical need to engineer in vitro models that mimic the liver stiffness corresponding to various stages of disease progression in order to elucidate the role of individual cellular responses. Here we employed polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS) based substrates with tunable mechanical properties to investigate the effect of substrate stiffness on the behavior of primary rat hepatocytes. To recreate physiologically relevant stiffness, we designed soft substrates (2 kPa) to represent the healthy liver and stiff substrates (55 kPa) to represent the diseased liver. Tissue culture plate surface (TCPS) served as the control substrate. We observed that hepatocytes cultured on soft substrates displayed a more differentiated and functional phenotype for a longer duration as compared to stiff substrates and TCPS. We demonstrated that hepatocytes on soft substrates exhibited higher urea and albumin synthesis. Cytochrome P450 (CYP) activity, another critical marker of hepatocytes, displayed a strong dependence on substrate stiffness, wherein hepatocytes on soft substrates retained 2.7 fold higher CYP activity on day 7 in culture, as compared to TCPS. We further observed that an increase in stiffness induced downregulation of key drug transporter genes (NTCP, UGT1A1, and GSTM-2). In addition, we observed that the epithelial cell phenotype was better maintained on soft substrates as indicated by higher expression of hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α, cytokeratin 18, and connexin 32. These results indicate that the substrate stiffness plays a significant role in modulating hepatocyte behavior. Our PDMS based liver model can be utilized to investigate the signaling pathways mediating the hepatocyte-LME communication to understand the progression of liver diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vaishaali Natarajan
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NE, 68588, USA
| | - Eric J Berglund
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NE, 68588, USA
| | - Dorothy X Chen
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NE, 68588, USA
| | - Srivatsan Kidambi
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NE, 68588, USA
- Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NE, 68588, USA
- Mary and Dick Holland Regenerative Medicine Program, University of Nebraska Medical Center, NE, 68198, USA
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Physical Intimacy of Breast Cancer Cells with Mesenchymal Stem Cells Elicits Trastuzumab Resistance through Src Activation. Sci Rep 2015; 5:13744. [PMID: 26345302 PMCID: PMC4561910 DOI: 10.1038/srep13744] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2015] [Accepted: 07/17/2015] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The development of resistance to trastuzumab is a major obstacle for lasting effective treatment of patients with ErbB2-overexpressing tumors. Here, we demonstrate that the physical contact of breast cancer cells with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is a potential modulator of trastuzumab response by activation of nonreceptor tyrosine kinase c-Src and down regulation of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN). Using an in vitro patterned breast cancer/MSC co-culture model, we find that the presence of MSCs results in Src activation that is missing in cancer cells monoculture, transwell co-culture, and cells treated with MSCs conditioned media. Interestingly, the co-culture model also results in PTEN loss and activation of PI3K/AKT pathway that has been demonstrated as fundamental proliferative and survival pathways in clinical settings. To our knowledge, this is the first report that showed PTEN loss without the use of chemical inhibitors, matrix stiffness, or silencing RNAs. In addition, breast cancer cells in co-culture with MSCs conferred trastuzumab resistance in vitro as observed in the lack of inhibition of proliferative and migrative properties of the cancer cells. Our findings show that MSCs are potent mediators of resistance to trastuzumab and might reveal targets to enhance trastuzumab efficacy in patients.
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