Investigating Tunneling Nanotubes in Cancer Cells: Guidelines for Structural and Functional Studies through Cell Imaging.

Investigating Tunneling Nanotubes in Cancer Cells: Guidelines for Structural and Functional Studies through Cell Imaging. Biomed Res Int. 2020;2020:2701345 Authors: Dubois F, Bénard M, Jean-Jacques B, Schapman D, Roberge H, Lebon A, Goux D, Monterroso B, Elie N, Komuro H, Bazille C, Levallet J, Bergot E, Levallet G, Galas L Abstract By allowing insured communication between cancer cells themselves and with the neighboring stromal cells, tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) are involved in the multistep process of cancer development from tumorigenesis to the treatment resistance. However, despite their critical role in the biology of cancer, the study of the TNTs has been announced challenging due to not only the absence of a specific biomarker but also the fragile and transitory nature of their structure and the fact that they are hovering freely above the substratum. Here, we proposed to review guidelines to follow for studying the structure and functionality of TNTs in tumoral neuroendocrine cells (PC12) and nontumorigenic human bronchial epithelial cells (HBEC-3, H28). In particular, we reported how crucial is it (i) to consider the culture conditions (culture surface, cell density), (ii) to visualize the formation of TNTs in living cells (mechanisms of formation, 3D representation), and (iii) to identify the cytoskeleton components and the associated elements (categories, origin, tip, and formation/transport) in the TNTs. We also focused ...
Source: Biomed Res - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Biomed Res Int Source Type: research