A combined microfluidic-transcriptomic approach to characterize the extravasation potential of cancer cells.

A combined microfluidic-transcriptomic approach to characterize the extravasation potential of cancer cells. Oncotarget. 2018 Nov 16;9(90):36110-36125 Authors: Bersini S, Miermont A, Pavesi A, Kamm RD, Thiery JP, Moretti M, Adriani G Abstract The reciprocal interaction between circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and tissue-specific cells is influential for the progression of metastases. In particular, the process of extravasation relies on the complex cross-talk between cancer cells and other cellular players such as the endothelium and the secondary tissue. However, most in vitro studies only focus on one heterotypic cell-cell interaction and often lack of physiological relevance. In this project, we investigated both CTC-endothelium and CTC-secondary site interactions during cancer cell extravasation. We first used a microarray analysis of extravasated MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells to identify key markers involved in extravasation. Then, we developed a tri-culture microfluidic platform combining cancer cells, endothelium and a bone-mimicking (BMi) microenvironment to assess how organ tropism influences the extravasation potential of cancer cells from different tissues. Through the microarray analyses of extravasated cancer cells we found that extravasation is associated with upregulation of late-metastatic markers along with specific proteases, such as matrix metalloprotease (MMP), a-disintegrin and metalloprotease (ADAM) and a-disinte...
Source: Oncotarget - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Oncotarget Source Type: research