Microfluidic co-culture of pancreatic tumor spheroids with stellate cells as a novel 3D model for investigation of stroma-mediated cell motility and drug resistance

Ji-Hyun Lee1, Seul-Ki Kim1, Iftikhar Ali Khawar1, Su-Yeong Jeong1, Seok Chung2, Hyo-Jeong Kuh1,3
1Department of Biomedicine & Health Sciences, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea
2School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
3Department of Medical Life Sciences, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Tóm tắt

Pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs), a major component of the tumor microenvironment in pancreatic cancer, play roles in cancer progression as well as drug resistance. Culturing various cells in microfluidic (microchannel) devices has proven to be a useful in studying cellular interactions and drug sensitivity. Here we present a microchannel plate-based co-culture model that integrates tumor spheroids with PSCs in a three-dimensional (3D) collagen matrix to mimic the tumor microenvironment in vivo by recapitulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition and chemoresistance. A 7-channel microchannel plate was prepared using poly-dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) via soft lithography. PANC-1, a human pancreatic cancer cell line, and PSCs, each within a designated channel of the microchannel plate, were cultured embedded in type I collagen. Expression of EMT-related markers and factors was analyzed using immunofluorescent staining or Proteome analysis. Changes in viability following exposure to gemcitabine and paclitaxel were measured using Live/Dead assay. PANC-1 cells formed 3D tumor spheroids within 5 days and the number of spheroids increased when co-cultured with PSCs. Culture conditions were optimized for PANC-1 cells and PSCs, and their appropriate interaction was confirmed by reciprocal activation shown as increased cell motility. PSCs under co-culture showed an increased expression of α-SMA. Expression of EMT-related markers, such as vimentin and TGF-β, was higher in co-cultured PANC-1 spheroids compared to that in mono-cultured spheroids; as was the expression of many other EMT-related factors including TIMP1 and IL-8. Following gemcitabine exposure, no significant changes in survival were observed. When paclitaxel was combined with gemcitabine, a growth inhibitory advantage was prominent in tumor spheroids, which was accompanied by significant cytotoxicity in PSCs. We demonstrated that cancer cells grown as tumor spheroids in a 3D collagen matrix and PSCs co-cultured in sub-millimeter proximity participate in mutual interactions that induce EMT and drug resistance in a microchannel plate. Microfluidic co-culture of pancreatic tumor spheroids with PSCs may serve as a useful model for studying EMT and drug resistance in a clinically relevant manner.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Hidalgo M. Pancreatic cancer. N Engl J Med. 2010;362(17):1605–17. Von Hoff DD, et al. Gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel is an active regimen in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer: a phase I/II trial. J Clin Oncol. 2011;29(34):4548–54. Drifka CR, et al. A bioengineered heterotypic stroma-cancer microenvironment model to study pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Lab Chip. 2013;13(19):3965–75. Feig C, et al. The pancreas cancer microenvironment. Clin Cancer Res. 2012;18(16):4266–76. Apte MV, Pirola RC, Wilson JS. Pancreatic stellate cells: a starring role in normal and diseased pancreas. Front Physiol. 2012;3:344. Erkan M, et al. The role of stroma in pancreatic cancer: diagnostic and therapeutic implications. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2012;9(8):454–67. Armstrong T, et al. Type I collagen promotes the malignant phenotype of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2004;10(21):7427–37. Duner S, et al. Pancreatic cancer: the role of pancreatic stellate cells in tumor progression. Pancreatology. 2010;10(6):673–81. Shields MA, et al. Biochemical role of the collagen-rich tumour microenvironment in pancreatic cancer progression. Biochem J. 2012;441(2):541–52. McCarroll JA, et al. Role of pancreatic stellate cells in chemoresistance in pancreatic cancer. Front Physiol. 2014;5:141. Erkan M, et al. The activated stroma index is a novel and independent prognostic marker in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2008;6(10):1155–61. Hingorani SR, et al. Phase Ib study of PEGylated recombinant human Hyaluronidase and gemcitabine in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2016;22(12):2848–54. Ohlund D, et al. Distinct populations of inflammatory fibroblasts and myofibroblasts in pancreatic cancer. J Exp Med. 2017;214(3):579–96. Kawase T, et al. Fibroblast activation protein-alpha-expressing fibroblasts promote the progression of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. BMC Gastroenterol. 2015;15:109. van Zijl F, et al. Hepatic tumor-stroma crosstalk guides epithelial to mesenchymal transition at the tumor edge. Oncogene. 2009;28(45):4022–33. Arumugam T, et al. Epithelial to mesenchymal transition contributes to drug resistance in pancreatic cancer. Cancer Res. 2009;69(14):5820–8. Voulgari A, Pintzas A. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition in cancer metastasis: mechanisms, markers and strategies to overcome drug resistance in the clinic. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2009;1796(2):75–90. Baril P, et al. Periostin promotes invasiveness and resistance of pancreatic cancer cells to hypoxia-induced cell death: role of the beta4 integrin and the PI3k pathway. Oncogene. 2007;26(14):2082–94. Wang Z, et al. Acquisition of epithelial-mesenchymal transition phenotype of gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic cancer cells is linked with activation of the notch signaling pathway. Cancer Res. 2009;69(6):2400–7. Fennema E, et al. Spheroid culture as a tool for creating 3D complex tissues. Trends Biotechnol. 2013;31(2):108–15. Hickman JA, et al. Three-dimensional models of cancer for pharmacology and cancer cell biology: capturing tumor complexity in vitro/ex vivo. Biotechnol J. 2014;9(9):1115–28. Joshi P, Lee MY. High content imaging (HCI) on miniaturized three-dimensional (3D) cell cultures. Biosensors (Basel). 2015;5(4):768–90. Young EW. Cells, tissues, and organs on chips: challenges and opportunities for the cancer tumor microenvironment. Integr Biol (Camb). 2013;5(9):1096–109. Bhatia SN, Ingber DE. Microfluidic organs-on-chips. Nat Biotechnol. 2014;32(8):760–72. van Duinen V, et al. Microfluidic 3D cell culture: from tools to tissue models. Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2015;35:118–26. An D, Kim K, Kim J. Microfluidic system based high throughput drug screening system for Curcumin/TRAIL combinational chemotherapy in human prostate cancer PC3 cells. Biomol Ther (Seoul). 2014;22(4):355–62. Bersini S, et al. A microfluidic 3D in vitro model for specificity of breast cancer metastasis to bone. Biomaterials. 2014;35(8):2454–61. Jeong SY, et al. Co-culture of tumor spheroids and fibroblasts in a collagen matrix-incorporated microfluidic Chip mimics reciprocal activation in solid tumor microenvironment. PLoS One. 2016;11(7):e0159013. Shin Y, et al. Microfluidic assay for simultaneous culture of multiple cell types on surfaces or within hydrogels. Nat Protoc. 2012;7(7):1247–59. Chuah YJ, et al. Simple surface engineering of polydimethylsiloxane with polydopamine for stabilized mesenchymal stem cell adhesion and multipotency. Sci Rep. 2015;5:18162. Fujiwara M, et al. ASF-4-1 fibroblast-rich culture increases chemoresistance and mTOR expression of pancreatic cancer BxPC-3 cells at the invasive front in vitro, and promotes tumor growth and invasion in vivo. Oncol Lett. 2016;11(4):2773–9. Kim SA, Lee EK, Kuh HJ. Co-culture of 3D tumor spheroids with fibroblasts as a model for epithelial-mesenchymal transition in vitro. Exp Cell Res. 2015;335(2):187–96. Kang J, et al. Mini-pillar array for hydrogel-supported 3D culture and high-content histologic analysis of human tumor spheroids. Lab Chip. 2016;16(12):2265–76. Matsuda Y, et al. Morphological and cytoskeletal changes of pancreatic cancer cells in three-dimensional spheroidal culture. Med Mol Morphol. 2010;43(4):211–7. Ware MJ, et al. Generation of homogenous three-dimensional pancreatic cancer cell spheroids using an improved hanging drop technique. Tissue Eng Part C Methods. 2016;22(4):312–21. Yeon SE, et al. Application of concave microwells to pancreatic tumor spheroids enabling anticancer drug evaluation in a clinically relevant drug resistance model. PLoS One. 2013;8(9):e73345. Habisch H, et al. Interaction of stellate cells with pancreatic carcinoma cells. Cancers (Basel). 2010;2(3):1661–82. Wehr AY, et al. Analysis of the human pancreatic stellate cell secreted proteome. Pancreas. 2011;40(4):557–66. Ghersi G, et al. Regulation of fibroblast migration on collagenous matrix by a cell surface peptidase complex. J Biol Chem. 2002;277(32):29231–41. Kim SA, et al. Indirect modulation of sensitivity to 5-fluorouracil by microRNA-96 in human colorectal cancer cells. Arch Pharm Res. 2015;38(2):239–48. Fan X, et al. Isolation and characterization of spheroid cells from the HT29 colon cancer cell line. Int J Color Dis. 2011;26(10):1279–85. Song Y, et al. TGF-beta-independent CTGF induction regulates cell adhesion mediated drug resistance by increasing collagen I in HCC. Oncotarget. 2017;8(13):21650–62. Sandbo N, et al. Control of myofibroblast differentiation by microtubule dynamics through a regulated localization of mDia2. J Biol Chem. 2013;288(22):15466–73. Ikenaga N, et al. Pancreatic cancer cells enhance the ability of collagen internalization during epithelial-mesenchymal transition. PLoS One. 2012;7(7):e40434. Ikushima H, Miyazono K. TGFbeta signalling: a complex web in cancer progression. Nat Rev Cancer. 2010;10(6):415–24. Dornhofer N, et al. Connective tissue growth factor-specific monoclonal antibody therapy inhibits pancreatic tumor growth and metastasis. Cancer Res. 2006;66(11):5816–27. Loomans HA, Andl CD. Intertwining of Activin a and TGFbeta signaling: dual roles in cancer progression and cancer cell invasion. Cancers (Basel). 2014;7(1):70–91. Lonardo E, et al. Nodal/Activin signaling drives self-renewal and tumorigenicity of pancreatic cancer stem cells and provides a target for combined drug therapy. Cell Stem Cell. 2011;9(5):433–46. Fernando RI, et al. IL-8 signaling plays a critical role in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition of human carcinoma cells. Cancer Res. 2011;71(15):5296–306. Han X, et al. Tissue factor in tumor microenvironment: a systematic review. J Hematol Oncol. 2014;7:54. Pavon MA, et al. uPA/uPAR and SERPINE1 in head and neck cancer: role in tumor resistance, metastasis, prognosis and therapy. Oncotarget. 2016;7(35):57351–66. Blasi F, Carmeliet P. uPAR: a versatile signalling orchestrator. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2002;3(12):932–43. Jackson HW, et al. TIMPs: versatile extracellular regulators in cancer. Nat Rev Cancer. 2017;17(1):38–53. Li C, et al. Overexpression of angiopoietin 2 promotes the formation of oral squamous cell carcinoma by increasing epithelial-mesenchymal transition-induced angiogenesis. Cancer Gene Ther. 2016;23(9):295–302. Lamouille S, Xu J, Derynck R. Molecular mechanisms of epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2014;15(3):178–96. Kantola T, et al. Serum endostatin levels are elevated in colorectal cancer and correlate with invasion and systemic inflammatory markers. Br J Cancer. 2014;111(8):1605–13. Carvalhaes LS, et al. Collagen XVIII/endostatin is associated with the epithelial-mesenchymal transformation in the atrioventricular valves during cardiac development. Dev Dyn. 2006;235(1):132–42. Kalluri R, Weinberg RA. The basics of epithelial-mesenchymal transition. J Clin Invest. 2009;119(6):1420–8. Fischer KR, et al. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition is not required for lung metastasis but contributes to chemoresistance. Nature. 2015;527(7579):472–6. Alvarez R, et al. Stromal disrupting effects of nab-paclitaxel in pancreatic cancer. Br J Cancer. 2013;109(4):926–33. Neesse A, et al. SPARC independent drug delivery and antitumour effects of nab-paclitaxel in genetically engineered mice. Gut. 2014;63(6):974–83. Cullis J, et al. Macropinocytosis of nab-paclitaxel drives macrophage activation in pancreatic cancer. Cancer Immunol Res. 2017;5(3):182–90. Danowski BA. Fibroblast contractility and actin organization are stimulated by microtubule inhibitors. J Cell Sci. 1989;93(Pt 2):255–66. Green KJ, Goldman RD. The effects of taxol on cytoskeletal components in cultured fibroblasts and epithelial cells. Cell Motil. 1983;3(4):283–305.