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Ortega Quesada BA, Cuccia J, Coates R, Nassar B, Littlefield E, Martin EC, Melvin AT. A modular microfluidic platform to study how fluid shear stress alters estrogen receptor phenotype in ER + breast cancer cells. Microsyst Nanoeng 2024; 10:25. [PMID: 38370397 PMCID: PMC10873338 DOI: 10.1038/s41378-024-00653-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2023] [Revised: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
Metastatic breast cancer leads to poor prognoses and worse outcomes in patients due to its invasive behavior and poor response to therapy. It is still unclear what biophysical and biochemical factors drive this more aggressive phenotype in metastatic cancer; however recent studies have suggested that exposure to fluid shear stress in the vasculature could cause this. In this study a modular microfluidic platform capable of mimicking the magnitude of fluid shear stress (FSS) found in human vasculature was designed and fabricated. This device provides a platform to evaluate the effects of FSS on MCF-7 cell line, an estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer cell line, during circulation in the vessels. Elucidation of the effects of FSS on MCF-7 cells was carried out utilizing two approaches: single cell analysis and bulk analysis. For single cell analysis, cells were trapped in a microarray after exiting the serpentine channel and followed by immunostaining on the device (on-chip). Bulk analysis was performed after cells were collected in a microtube at the outlet of the microfluidic serpentine channel for western blotting (off-chip). It was found that cells exposed to an FSS magnitude of 10 dyn/cm2 with a residence time of 60 s enhanced expression of the proliferation marker Ki67 in the MCF-7 cell line at a single cell level. To understand possible mechanisms for enhanced Ki67 expression, on-chip and off-chip analyses were performed for pro-growth and survival pathways ERK, AKT, and JAK/STAT. Results demonstrated that after shearing the cells phosphorylation of p-AKT, p-mTOR, and p-STAT3 were observed. However, there was no change in p-ERK1/2. AKT is a mediator of ER rapid signaling, analysis of phosphorylated ERα was carried out and no significant differences between sheared and non-sheared populations were observed. Taken together these results demonstrate that FSS can increase phosphorylation of proteins associated with a more aggressive phenotype in circulating cancer cells. These findings provide additional information that may help inform why cancer cells located at metastatic sites are usually more aggressive than primary breast cancer cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Braulio Andrés Ortega Quesada
- Cain Department of Chemical Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 USA
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634 USA
| | - Jonathan Cuccia
- Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 USA
| | - Rachael Coates
- Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 USA
| | - Blake Nassar
- Cain Department of Chemical Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 USA
| | - Ethan Littlefield
- Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 USA
| | - Elizabeth C. Martin
- Department Medicine, Section Hematology and Medical Oncology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118 USA
| | - Adam T. Melvin
- Cain Department of Chemical Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 USA
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634 USA
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Quesada BAO, Cuccia J, Coates R, Nassar B, Littlefield E, Martin EC, Melvin AT. A modular microfluidic platform to study how fluid shear stress alters estrogen receptor phenotype in ER + breast cancer cells. Res Sq 2023:rs.3.rs-3399118. [PMID: 37886527 PMCID: PMC10602101 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3399118/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2023]
Abstract
Metastatic breast cancer leads to poor prognoses and worse outcomes in patients due to its invasive behavior and poor response to therapy. It is still unclear what biophysical and biochemical factors drive this more aggressive phenotype in metastatic cancer; however recent studies have suggested that exposure to fluid shear stress in the vasculature could cause this. In this study a modular microfluidic platform capable of mimicking the magnitude of fluid shear stress (FSS) found in human vasculature was designed and fabricated. This device provides a platform to evaluate the effects of FSS on MCF-7 cell line, a receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer cell line, during circulation in the vessels. Elucidation of the effects of FSS on MCF-7 cells was carried out utilizing two approaches: single cell analysis and bulk analysis. For single cell analysis, cells were trapped in a microarray after exiting the serpentine channel and followed by immunostaining on the device (on-chip). Bulk analysis was performed after cells were collected in a microtube at the outlet of the microfluidic serpentine channel for western blotting (off-chip). It was found that cells exposed to an FSS magnitude of 10 dyn/cm2 with a residence time of 60 seconds enhanced expression of the proliferation marker Ki67 in the MCF-7 cell line at a single cell level. To understand possible mechanisms for enhanced Ki67 expression, on-chip and off-chip analyses were performed for pro-growth and survival pathways ERK, AKT, and JAK/STAT. Results demonstrated that after shearing the cells phosphorylation of p-AKT, p-mTOR, and p-STAT3 were observed. However, there was no change in p-ERK1/2. AKT is a mediator of ER rapid signaling, analysis of phosphorylated ERα was carried out and no significant differences between sheared and non-sheared populations were observed. Taken together these results demonstrate that FSS can increase phosphorylation of proteins associated with a more aggressive phenotype in circulating cancer cells. These findings provide additional information that may help inform why cancer cells located at metastatic sites are usually more aggressive than primary breast cancer cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Braulio Andrés Ortega Quesada
- Cain Department of Chemical Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, 29634
| | - Jonathan Cuccia
- Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803
| | - Rachael Coates
- Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803
| | - Blake Nassar
- Cain Department of Chemical Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803
| | - Ethan Littlefield
- Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803
| | - Elizabeth C. Martin
- Department Medicine, Section Hematology and Medical Oncology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 70118
| | - Adam T. Melvin
- Cain Department of Chemical Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, 29634
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