Development of a novel prostate Cancer-Stroma Sphere (CSS) model for In Vitro tumor microenvironment studies

Tumor employs non-cancerous cells to gain beneficial features that promote growth and survival of cancer cells. Despite intensive research in the area of tumor microenvironment, there is still a lack of reliable and reproducible in vitro model for tumor and tumor-microenvironment cell interaction studies. Herein we report the successful development of a heterogeneous cancer-stroma sphere (CSS) model composed of prostate adenocarcinoma PC3 cells and immortalized mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). The CSS model demonstrated a structured spatial layout of the cells, with stromal cells concentrated at the center of the spheres and tumor cells located on the periphery. Significant increase in the levels of VEGFA, IL-10, and IL1a has been detected in the conditioned media of CSS as compared to PC3 spheres. Single cell RNA sequencing data revealed that VEGFA was secreted by MSC cells within heterogeneous spheroids. Enhanced expression of extracellular membrane (ECM) proteins was also shown for CSS-derived MSCs. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the multicellular architecture altered cancer cell response to chemotherapeutic agents: the inhibition of sphere formation by topotecan was 74.92 ± 4.56 % for PC3 spheres and 45.95 ± 7.84 % for CSS spheres (p < 0.01), docetaxel showed 37,51± 20,88 % and 15,67± 14,08 % inhibition, respectively (p < 0.05). Thus, CSS present an effective in vitro model for examining the extracellular matrix composition and cell-to-cell interactions within the tumor, as well as for evaluating the antitumor activity of drugs.

Immunology of SARS-CoV-2 Infection

According to the data from the World Health Organization, about 800 million of the world population had contracted coronavirus infection caused by SARS-CoV-2 by mid-2023. Properties of this virus have allowed it to circulate in the human population for a long time, evolving defense mechanisms against the host immune system. Severity of the disease depends largely on the degree of activation of the systemic immune response, including overstimulation of macrophages and monocytes, cytokine production, and triggering of adaptive T- and B-cell responses, while SARS-CoV-2 evades the immune system actions. In this review, we discuss immune responses triggered in response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus entry into the cell and malfunctions of the immune system that lead to the development of severe disease.

Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell (MSC) Immortalization by Modulation of hTERT and TP53 Expression Levels

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are pivotal players in tissue repair and hold great promise as cell therapeutic agents for regenerative medicine. Additionally, they play a significant role in the development of various human diseases. Studies on MSC biology have encountered a limiting property of these cells, which includes a low number of passages and a decrease in differentiation potential during in vitro culture. Although common methods of immortalization through gene manipulations of cells are well established, the resulting MSCs vary in differentiation potential compared to primary cells and eventually undergo senescence. This study aimed to immortalize primary adipose-derived MSCs by overexpressing human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene combined with a knockdown of TP53. The research demonstrated that immortalized MSCs maintained a stable level of differentiation into osteogenic and chondrogenic lineages during 30 passages, while also exhibiting an increase in cell proliferation rate and differentiation potential towards the adipogenic lineage. Long-term culture of immortalized cells did not alter cell morphology and self-renewal potential. Consequently, a genetically stable line of immortalized adipose-derived MSCs (iMSCs) was established.

Biology of the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus

New coronavirus infection causing COVID-19, which was first reported in late 2019 in China, initiated severe social and economic crisis that affected the whole world. High frequency of the errors in replication of RNA viruses, zoonotic nature of transmission, and high transmissibility allowed betacoronaviruses to cause the third pandemic in the world since the beginning of 2003: SARS-CoV in 2003, MERS-CoV in 2012, and SARS-CoV-2 in 2019. The latest pandemic united scientific community and served as a powerful impetus in the study of biology of coronaviruses: new routes of virus penetration into the human cells were identified, features of the replication cycle were studied, and new functions of coronavirus proteins were elucidated. It should be recognized that the pandemic was accompanied by the need to obtain and publish results within a short time, which led to the emergence of an array of conflicting data and low reproducibility of research results. We systematized and analyzed scientific literature, filtered the results according to reliability of the methods of analysis used, and prepared a review describing molecular mechanisms of functioning of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. This review considers organization of the genome of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, mechanisms of its gene expression and entry of the virus into the cell, provides information on key mutations that characterize different variants of the virus, and their contribution to pathogenesis of the disease.

The expression of pluripotency genes regulates properties of cancer stem cells in MCF-7 breast cancer model

e23018

Background: More than 1.6 million cases of breast cancer (BC) are diagnosed annually worldwide. Despite advances in diagnoses and treatment, BC remains the third leading cause of death in women. Metastases and chemotherapy resistance are the main factors contributing to BC mortality. The ability of tumor cells to overcome the drug-induced growth inhibition is now linked to a unique population of cancer initiating tumor cells, often referred as cancer stem cells (CSC). CSC represent a small fraction of tumor cells, therefore, currently used isolation protocols have a low yield and are poorly reproducible, hampering research on the role of these cells in cancer chemoresistance. We propose a novel approach to generate large quantities of CSC-like cells by genetic reprogramming of non-stem cancer cells. Methods: We postulate that CSC-enriched cell line can be developed in vitro by upregulating of proteins controlling cancer cell pluripotency including Oct4, Sox2, NANOG, KLF4 and c-Myc. Increased transcriptional and translational activity of these genes in MCF-7 cells was demonstrated by real time-PCR and Western blot. Proliferation and migration of cells overexpressing Oct4, Sox2, NANOG, KLF4 and c-Myc were analyzed as well. Also, changes in CSC population counts and their sensitivity to chemotherapy were investigated using sphere formation assay. Results: We found that cell proliferation rate was correlated with the expression level of c-Myc and Oct4. Increased CSC counts were found in cells with overexpressed Oct4 (62.7%), KLF4 (97%) and NANOG (121.3%) proteins as compared to the parental cells. Overexpression of SOX2, NANOG and KLF4 significantly increased CSC resistance to docetaxel (83,3±6,8; 93,3±4,5 and 80,3±5,0 spheres respectively) when compared to the original cells (48,3±3,0 spheres). Conclusions: We conclude that overexpression of pluripotency proteins Oct4, Sox2, NANOG, KLF4 and c-Myc changes the CSC counts and proliferation capacity of BC cells. Acknowledgements: The study was funded by RFBR, according to the research project No. 16-34-60210 mol_а_dk, and by Russian Government Program of Competitive Growth of Kazan Federal University.

[Comparative analysis of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene expression potentiation via HIV-1 Tat-TAR-system and cancer-specific promoters in p53(+) and p53(-) cells]

Tumor-specific promoters are predominantly active and ensure expression of the gene under control exclusively in cancer cells. However, a low activity of the promoters is an essential disadvantage for their therapy usage. To achieve a higher expression level of the therapeutic gene, herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-tk), the Tat-TAR-system being utilized by HIV-1 for increasing own gene expression was developed. A potentiating activity of tat gene under control of two different cancer-specific gene (human survivin gene and human telomerase reverse transcriptase) promoters for increasing of the HSV-tk gene expression being regulated by TAR-element was evaluated, and activity of the cancer-specific promoters in the Tat-TAR-system was compared. Co-transfection of the cells with the both constructions led to the tat protein synthesis and its affect the HIV-1 TAR-element. An expression level of HSV-tk gene ensured by the both promoters in the binary system was close to that for strong non-specific cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter. Enzymatic activity of HSV-tk protein in cells having both elements of Tat-TAR-system was two orders of magnitude higher than that in the cells transfected with HSV-tk gene under control of the cancer-specific promoter. Notably, the effect was independent of p53-status of transfected cells: HSV-tk expression level was almost the same in p53(+) and p53(-) cells. The obtained results show that system may be used for therapy of different cancer types both p53-defective and p53-positive ones inhibiting cancer-specific promoters activity.

[Study of transactivation effect on transcription by Tat-TAR-system of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in non-lymphoid cells HEK293 and Calu-1]

An important problem in the development of gene therapy approaches in oncology is the necessity of using promoters providing specific and high level of gene expression in tumor cells. To solve this problem, we used inducible system of gene expression regulation (Tat-TAR-system), which is utilized by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). tat and tk-HSV genes, as well as a fragment of LTR HIV-1, were cloned in the retrovirus vector, tk-HSV gene was under control of the LTR HIV-1 fragment. Potential capacity of these constructions for transactivating tk-HSV gene transcription was studied. Basal expression level of this gene was defined in transient transfection of HEK293 cells. It was shown that specific transactivation of the tk-HSV gene was controlled by the LTR HIV-1 fragment in lung carcinoma cells Calu-1, permanently transfected by the tat gene construction. The effect of transactivation of tk-HSV transcription in Tat-TAR-system was demonstrated in Calu-1 cells in conditions of control of cancer-specific tat gene over BIRC5 promoter.