Dataset Information

Phenotypic characterization of prostate cancer LNCaP cells cultured within a bioengineered microenvironment.

ABSTRACT: Biophysical and biochemical properties of the microenvironment regulate cellular responses such as growth, differentiation, morphogenesis and migration in normal and cancer cells. Since two-dimensional (2D) cultures lack the essential characteristics of the native cellular microenvironment, three-dimensional (3D) cultures have been developed to better mimic the natural extracellular matrix. To date, 3D culture systems have relied mostly on collagen and Matrigel™ hydrogels, allowing only limited control over matrix stiffness, proteolytic degradability, and ligand density. In contrast, bioengineered hydrogels allow us to independently tune and systematically investigate the influence of these parameters on cell growth and differentiation. In this study, polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogels, functionalized with the Arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) motifs, common cell-binding motifs in extracellular matrix proteins, and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) cleavage sites, were characterized regarding their stiffness, diffusive properties, and ability to support growth of androgen-dependent LNCaP prostate cancer cells. We found that the mechanical properties modulated the growth kinetics of LNCaP cells in the PEG hydrogel. At culture periods of 28 days, LNCaP cells underwent morphogenic changes, forming tumor-like structures in 3D culture, with hypoxic and apoptotic cores. We further compared protein and gene expression levels between 3D and 2D cultures upon stimulation with the synthetic androgen R1881. Interestingly, the kinetics of R1881 stimulated androgen receptor (AR) nuclear translocation differed between 2D and 3D cultures when observed by immunofluorescent staining. Furthermore, microarray studies revealed that changes in expression levels of androgen responsive genes upon R1881 treatment differed greatly between 2D and 3D cultures. Taken together, culturing LNCaP cells in the tunable PEG hydrogels reveals differences in the cellular responses to androgen stimulation between the 2D and 3D environments. Therefore, we suggest that the presented 3D culture system represents a powerful tool for high throughput prostate cancer drug testing that recapitulates tumor microenvironment.

SUBMITTER: Sieh S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3434144 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Phenotypic characterization of prostate cancer LNCaP cells cultured within a bioengineered microenvironment.

Sieh Shirly S Taubenberger Anna V AV Rizzi Simone C SC Sadowski Martin M Lehman Melanie L ML Rockstroh Anja A An Jiyuan J Clements Judith A JA Nelson Colleen C CC Hutmacher Dietmar W DW

PloS one 20120905 9

Biophysical and biochemical properties of the microenvironment regulate cellular responses such as growth, differentiation, morphogenesis and migration in normal and cancer cells. Since two-dimensional (2D) cultures lack the essential characteristics of the native cellular microenvironment, three-dimensional (3D) cultures have been developed to better mimic the natural extracellular matrix. To date, 3D culture systems have relied mostly on collagen and Matrigel™ hydrogels, allowing only limited ...[more]

PMID: 22957009

Similar Datasets

Project description:The GLI (GLI1/GLI2) transcription factors have been implicated in the development and progression of prostate cancer although our understanding of how they actually contribute to the biology of these common tumours is limited. We observed that GLI reporter activity was higher in normal (PNT-2) and tumourigenic (DU145 and PC-3) androgen-independent cells compared to androgen-dependent LNCaP prostate cancer cells and, accordingly, GLI mRNA levels were also elevated. Ectopic expression of GLI1 or the constitutively active ?NGLI2 mutant induced a distinct cobblestone-like morphology in LNCaP cells that, regarding the former, correlated with increased GLI2 as well as expression of the basal/stem-like markers CD44, ?1-integrin, ?Np63 and BMI1, and decreased expression of the luminal marker AR (androgen receptor). LNCaP-GLI1 cells were viable in the presence of the AR inhibitor bicalutamide and gene expression profiling revealed that the transcriptome of LNCaP-GLI1 cells was significantly closer to DU145 and PC-3 cells than to control LNCaP-pBP (empty vector) cells, as well as identifying LCN2/NGAL as a highly induced transcript which is associated with hormone independence in breast and prostate cancer. Functionally, LNCaP-GLI1 cells displayed greater clonal growth and were more invasive than control cells but they did not form colonies in soft agar or prostaspheres in suspension suggesting that they do not possess inherent stem cell properties. Moreover, targeted suppression of GLI1 or GLI2 with siRNA did not reverse the transformed phenotype of LNCaP-GLI1 cells nor did double GLI1/GLI2 knockdowns activate AR expression in DU145 or PC-3 cells. As such, early targeting of the GLI oncoproteins may hinder progression to a hormone independent state but a more detailed understanding of the mechanisms that maintain this phenotype is required to determine if their inhibition will enhance the efficacy of anti-hormonal therapy through the induction of a luminal phenotype and increased dependency upon AR function.

Project description:Recent evidence has demonstrated that circular RNAs (circRNAs) played crucial roles in fine-tuning the levels of gene expression by sequestering the corresponding microRNA (miRNAs). Their interaction with disease-associated miRNAs indicates that circRNAs are important for the development of disease, and miR-145 has been previously shown to have antitumor effect in prostate cancer. In the current study, we successfully established the miR-145-overexpressed prostate cancer LNCaP cells (LNCaP-miR-145) using lentiviral vectors. LNCaP cells expressing the empty vector (LNCaP-NC) were used as the negative control. The circRNA expression in LNCaP-miR-145 cells was detected by microarray analysis, and the miRNA targets of circRNAs were predicted using the bioinformatics software TargetScan and miRanda. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the expression levels of circRNAs in the prostate cancer tissue, nonmalignant tissue, LNCaP-miR-145 cells, and LNCaP-NC cells. The interaction of miRNA and circRNA was further confirmed by the dual-luciferase reporter assay. A total of 267 and 149 circRNAs were significantly up- and downregulated in LNCaP-miR-145 cells, respectively. hsa_circRNA_101981, hsa_circRNA_101996 and hsa_circRNA_09142 were the 3 circRNAs that interacted with hsa-miR-145-5p; hsa_circRNA_008068 and hsa_circRNA_406557 were the 2 circRNAs that interacted with hsa-miR-145-3p. Most of the circRNAs corresponded to the protein-coding exons. The expression levels of hsa_circRNA_101981, hsa_circRNA_00806, and hsa_circRNA_406557 were upregulated in the LNCaP-miR-145 cells, but downregulated in the prostate cancer tissue. In contrast, the expression levels of hsa_circRNA_101996 and hsa_circRNA_091420 were downregulated in the LNCaP-miR-145 cells, but upregulated in the prostate cancer tissue. Moreover, miR-145-5P might regulate the expression of hsa_circRNA_101981, hsa_circRNA_101996, and hsa_circRNA_09142, while miR-145-3P might regulate the expression of hsa_circRNA_008068 and hsa_circRNA_406557. Overexpression of miR-145 promoted the expression of hsa_circRNA_101981, hsa_circRNA_008068, and hsa_circRNA_406557 but suppressed the expressions of hsa_circRNA_101996 and hsa_circRNA_091420 in LNCaP cells. The results from the current study should give us a clue to clarify the tumor suppressive effect of miR-145.

Dataset Information

Phenotypic characterization of prostate cancer LNCaP cells cultured within a bioengineered microenvironment.

Publications

Phenotypic characterization of prostate cancer LNCaP cells cultured within a bioengineered microenvironment.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets