Dataset Information

Phenotypic Basis for Matrix Stiffness-Dependent Chemoresistance of Breast Cancer Cells to Doxorubicin.

ABSTRACT: The persistence of drug resistant cell populations following chemotherapeutic treatment is a significant challenge in the clinical management of cancer. Resistant subpopulations arise via both cell intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms. Extrinsic factors in the microenvironment, including neighboring cells, glycosaminoglycans, and fibrous proteins impact therapy response. Elevated levels of extracellular fibrous proteins are associated with tumor progression and cause the surrounding tissue to stiffen through changes in structure and composition of the extracellular matrix (ECM). We sought to determine how this progressively stiffening microenvironment affects the sensitivity of breast cancer cells to chemotherapeutic treatment. MDA-MB-231 triple negative breast carcinoma cells cultured in a 3D alginate-based hydrogel system displayed a stiffness-dependent response to the chemotherapeutic doxorubicin. MCF7 breast carcinoma cells cultured in the same conditions did not exhibit this stiffness-dependent resistance to the drug. This differential therapeutic response was coordinated with nuclear translocation of YAP, a marker of mesenchymal differentiation. The stiffness-dependent response was lost when cells were transferred from 3D to monolayer cultures, suggesting that endpoint ECM conditions largely govern the response to doxorubicin. To further examine this response, we utilized a platform capable of dynamic ECM stiffness modulation to allow for a change in matrix stiffness over time. We found that MDA-MB-231 cells have a stiffness-dependent resistance to doxorubicin and that duration of exposure to ECM stiffness is sufficient to modulate this response. These results indicate the need for additional tools to integrate mechanical stiffness with therapeutic response and inform decisions for more effective use of chemotherapeutics in the clinic.

SUBMITTER: Joyce MH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6134055 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Phenotypic Basis for Matrix Stiffness-Dependent Chemoresistance of Breast Cancer Cells to Doxorubicin.

Joyce M Hunter MH Lu Carolyne C James Emily R ER Hegab Rachel R Allen Shane C SC Suggs Laura J LJ Brock Amy A

Frontiers in oncology 20180905

The persistence of drug resistant cell populations following chemotherapeutic treatment is a significant challenge in the clinical management of cancer. Resistant subpopulations arise via both cell intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms. Extrinsic factors in the microenvironment, including neighboring cells, glycosaminoglycans, and fibrous proteins impact therapy response. Elevated levels of extracellular fibrous proteins are associated with tumor progression and cause the surrounding tissue to stif ...[more]

PMID: 30234012

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Project description:Metastasis remains the leading cause of cancer-associated death worldwide. Disseminated tumor cells can undergo dormancy upon infiltration of secondary organs, and chemotherapeutics fail to effectively eliminate dormant populations. Mechanistic understanding of dormancy-associated chemoresistance could lead to development of targeted therapeutic strategies. Toward this goal, we implemented three poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based hydrogel formulations fabricated from proteolytically degradable PEG (PEG-PQ), integrin ligating PEG-RGDS, and the non-degradable cross-linker N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) to induce three distinct phenotypes in triple negative MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. With constant 5% w/v PEG-PQ, PEG-RGDS and NVP concentrations were tuned to induce (i) a growth state characterized by high proliferation, high metabolic activity, significant temporally increased cell density, and an invasive morphology; (ii) a balanced dormancy state characterized by a temporal balance (~1:1 ratio) in new live and dead cell density and a non-invasive morphology; and (iii) a cellular dormancy state characterized by rounded, solitary quiescent cells with low viability, proliferation, and metabolic activity. The cellular responses to doxorubicin (DOX), paclitaxel (PAC), and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in the three phenotypic states were quantified. Under DOX treatment, cells in dormant states demonstrated increased chemoresistance with a 1.4- to 1.8-fold increase in half maximal effective concentration (EC50) and 1.3- to 1.8-fold increase in half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) compared to cells in the growth state. PAC and 5-FU treatment led to similar results. To mechanistically investigate the role of dormancy in conferring DOX resistance, cytoplasmic and nuclear accumulation of DOX was measured. The results indicated comparable DOX accumulation between all three phenotypic states; however, the intracellular to intranuclear distribution indicated a ~1.5 fold increase in DOX nuclear accumulation in cells in the growth state compared to the two dormant states. These results further validate the utility of implementing engineered hydrogels as in vitro platforms of breast cancer dormancy for the development of anti-dormancy therapeutic strategies.

Project description:Mechanical factors in the tumor microenvironment play an important role in response to a variety of cellular activities in cancer cells. Here, we utilized polyacrylamide hydrogels with varying physical parameters simulating tumor and metastatic target tissues to investigate the effect of substrate stiffness on the growth, phenotype, and chemotherapeutic response of ovarian cancer cells (OCCs). We found that increasing the substrate stiffness promoted the proliferation of SKOV-3 cells, an OCC cell line. This proliferation coincided with the nuclear translocation of the oncogene Yes-associated protein. Additionally, we found that substrate softening promoted elements of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), including mesenchymal cell shape changes, increase in vimentin expression, and decrease in E-cadherin and β-catenin expression. Growing evidence demonstrates that apart from contributing to cancer initiation and progression, EMT can promote chemotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer cells. Furthermore, we evaluated tumor response to standard chemotherapeutic drugs (cisplatin and paclitaxel) and found antiproliferation effects to be directly proportional to the stiffness of the substrate. Nanomechanical studies based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) have revealed that chemosensitivity and chemoresistance are related to cellular mechanical properties. The results of cellular elastic modulus measurements determined by AFM demonstrated that Young's modulus of SKOV-3 cells grown on soft substrates was less than that of cells grown on stiff substrates. Gene expression analysis of SKOV-3 cells showed that mRNA expression can be greatly affected by substrate stiffness. Finally, immunocytochemistry analyses revealed an increase in multidrug resistance proteins, namely, ATP binding cassette subfamily B member 1 and member 4 (ABCB1 and ABCB4), in the cells grown on the soft gel resulting in resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs. In conclusion, our study may help in identification of effective targets for cancer therapy and improve our understanding of the mechanisms of cancer progression and chemoresistance.

Dataset Information

Phenotypic Basis for Matrix Stiffness-Dependent Chemoresistance of Breast Cancer Cells to Doxorubicin.

Publications

Phenotypic Basis for Matrix Stiffness-Dependent Chemoresistance of Breast Cancer Cells to Doxorubicin.

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