Project description:Extracellular vesicles (EVs) contain proteins, enzymes and metabolites that contribute to the therapeutic potential of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). However, scale-up production of hMSC EVs has become a major challenge. In current study, hMSCs were grown as 3D aggregates under wave motion to promote EV secretion (3D EVs). mRNA sequencing reveals global transcriptome alterations (e.g., upregulated Wnt, TNF, and Hippo signaling and downregulated cellular senescence) for 3D aggregates. Compared to 2D EVs, the quantity of 3D EVs was enhanced significantly with smaller size, higher miR-21 and miR-22 expression, and the altered protein cargo revealed by proteomics. 3D hMSC aggregates promote activation of the endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT) pathway and ESCRT-independent pathway. In addition, 3D EVs rejuvenated stem cells expressing cellular senescence and modulated immune response determined by T lymphocyte and macrophage phenotype assays. In summary, this study provides a promising strategy for high-quality EV production from hMSCs with enhanced therapeutic potentials.
Project description:Comparison between extracellular vesicles produced from 2D-cultured human Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hMSC) in starvation, and extracellular vesicles produced from spheroids of hMSC hydrodynamically stimulated in a cross-slot millifluidic chip.
Project description:Liver-derived cells from the surface and cave-adapted morphs of Astyanax mexicanus are valuable in vitro resources to explore the metabolism of these unique fish. However, 2D cultures have not yet fully mimicked the metabolic profile of the fish liver. Also, 3D culturing can modulate the transcriptomic profile of cells when compared to its 2D counterpart. Hence, to widen the range of metabolic pathways that can be depicted in vitro, we cultured the liver-derived SFL and CFL into 3D spheroids. We 3D cultured the cells at various cell seeding densities for 4 weeks and characterized the resultant transcriptome. The 3D cultured SFL and CFL cells indeed depicted a wider range of metabolic pathways as compared to the 2D culture. Further, the 3D spheroids also showed surface and cave-specific responses, making the spheroids an exciting system to study cave adaptation. Taken together, SFL and CFL spheroids prove to be a promising model for overall understanding of altered metabolism in Astyanax mexicanus.
Project description:This experiment was conducted to test multiple hypotheses: 1) long-wave 365 nm UV light exposure at low fluences does not alter gene expression of hMSC, 2) presence of radical species during polymerization causes DNA damage in hMSC, 3) 3D encapsulation of hMSC causes changes in gene expression of hMSC compared with traditional 2D culture, 4) Differencesin 3D hydrogel networks induce gene expression changes in hMSC The first publication derived from this data set concerns UV exposure and reactive radical species. Light is a non-invasive tool that is widely used in a range of biomedical applications. Techniques such as photopolymerization, photodegradation and photouncaging can be used to alter the chemical and physical properties of biomaterials in the presence of live cells. Long-wave UV light is an easily accessible and commonly used wavelength. Although exposure to low doses of long-wave UV light is generally accepted as biocompatible, most studies only investigate cell viability, ignoring other possible non-toxic effects. Since light exposure could potentially induce phenotypic changes (i.e. if damage repair mechanisms are activated), we examined changes in gene expression of human mesenchymal stem cells exposed to light under various 2D and 3D culture conditions. While exposure to long-wave UV light did not induce any significant changes in gene expression regardless of culture conditions, significant changes were observed due to scaffold fabrication chemistry and between cells plated in 2D versus 3D scaffolds. In total, 24 samples were analyzed. Three different culture conditions were created: 2D(plated), 3DR (encapsulated, radical polymerization), and 3DC (encapsulated, conjugate addition). Each culture condition was further subjected to UV radiation or no UV radiation, for 6 total experimental groups. Each experimental group was performed in triplicate. The 2D experimental groups, with and without UV, were additionally performed twice, once simultaneously with the 3DR samples, and once simultaneously with the 3DC samples. 3DR: encapsulated cells using radical polymerization (APS/TEMED) in a poly(ethylene glycol) (MW=4,000 g/mol) hydrogel in PBS. 3DC: encapsulated cells using conjugate addition with a four-arm PEG-Thiol (pentaerythritol tetrakis(3-mercaptopropionate) (PETMP) ) as the cross-linker in PBS.
Project description:Human bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are conventionally cultured as adherent monolayers on tissue culture plastic. MSCs can also be cultured as 3D cell aggregates (spheroids). Optimised 3D conditions (60,000 MSCs cultured as a spheroid for 5 days) inhibited MSC proliferation and induced cell shrinkage in the absence of cell death. Primary human MSCs isolated from 2 donors were cultured under both monolayer (2D MSCs) and optimised 3D (3D MSCs) conditions. High quality RNA was isolated from all samples, and global gene expression analysis was performed in duplicate (using Agilent SurePrint G3 Human Gene Expression 8x60K v2 Microarrays) to identify gene expression changes in 3D compared to 2D MSC cultures.
Project description:Background. Fallopian tube secretory epithelial cells (FTSECs) have been implicated as a cell-of-origin for high-grade serous epithelial ovarian cancer. However, there are relatively few in vitro models of this tissue type available for use in studies of FTSEC biology and malignant transformation. In vitro three-dimensional (3D) cell culture models aim to recreate the architecture and geometry of tissues in vivo and restore the complex network of cell-cell/cell-matrix interactions that occur throughout the surface of the cell membrane. Results. We have established and characterized 3D spheroid culture models of primary FTSECs. FTSEC spheroids contain central cores of hyaline matrix surrounded by mono- or multi-layer epithelial sheets. We found that 3D culturing alters the molecular characteristics of FTSECs compared to 2D cultures of the same cells. Gene expression profiling identified more than a thousand differentially expressed genes between 3D and 2D cultures of the same FTSEC lines. Pathways significantly under-represented in 3D FTSEC cultures were associated with cell cycle progression and DNA replication. This was also reflected in the reduced proliferative indices observed in 3D spheroids stained for the proliferation marker MIB1. Comparisons with gene expression profiles of fresh fallopian tube tissues revealed that 2D FTSEC cultures clustered with follicular phase tubal epithelium, whereas 3D FTSEC cultures clustered with luteal phase samples. Conclusions. This 3D model of fallopian tube secretory epithelial cells will advance our ability to study the underlying biology and etiology of fallopian tube tissues and the pathogenesis of high-grade serous epithelial ovarian cancer. 3 primary FTSEC lines were plated in 2D, or in 3D on polyHEMA coated plates
Project description:Adult human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) have shown promise as a valuable new therapeutic tool in a wide range of diseases. hMSCs from bone marrow stroma are currently isolated by their adherence to tissue culture treated polystyrene (TCP) and passaged multiple times on the same plastics until they are able to produce enough cells to be useful for research or clinical therapeutic trials. However, evidence in the literature has shown that culture on TCP can negatively alter hMSC function. Our aim was to expand hMSCs in an in vitro environment more closely resembling that of the hMSCs' native microenvironment to maximize proliferation while retaining therapeutic potential. We used decellularized hMSC-derived extracellular matrix (hMSC-ECM) to test hMSCs' maintenance of stem cell properties during in vitro expansion. We found that hMSC-ECM was able to increase hMSC proliferation while retaining the stem cells‘ immature state and increasing differentiation potential. In addition, the hMSC-ECM could be covalently cross-linked to polymer substrates and was effective in the isolation and expansion of hMSCs in the presence of fetal bovine serum and human serum. Using proteomics and transcriptomics, we were able to determine the mechanism behind the hMSCs’ increased proliferation was due to their ability to downregulate their otherwise required gene expression for ECM proteins by on hMSC-ECM. The effects of hMSC-ECM were largely hMSC specific and were not found with several other types of human cells. Providing a pre-formed in vitro niche for hMSCs can provide the cells with the critical components required for hMSC function during in vitro expansion.
Project description:This experiment was conducted to test multiple hypotheses: 1) long-wave 365 nm UV light exposure at low fluences does not alter gene expression of hMSC, 2) presence of radical species during polymerization causes DNA damage in hMSC, 3) 3D encapsulation of hMSC causes changes in gene expression of hMSC compared with traditional 2D culture, 4) Differencesin 3D hydrogel networks induce gene expression changes in hMSC The first publication derived from this data set concerns UV exposure and reactive radical species. Light is a non-invasive tool that is widely used in a range of biomedical applications. Techniques such as photopolymerization, photodegradation and photouncaging can be used to alter the chemical and physical properties of biomaterials in the presence of live cells. Long-wave UV light is an easily accessible and commonly used wavelength. Although exposure to low doses of long-wave UV light is generally accepted as biocompatible, most studies only investigate cell viability, ignoring other possible non-toxic effects. Since light exposure could potentially induce phenotypic changes (i.e. if damage repair mechanisms are activated), we examined changes in gene expression of human mesenchymal stem cells exposed to light under various 2D and 3D culture conditions. While exposure to long-wave UV light did not induce any significant changes in gene expression regardless of culture conditions, significant changes were observed due to scaffold fabrication chemistry and between cells plated in 2D versus 3D scaffolds.
Project description:The aim of this experiment was to characterize the gene expression of several in vitro cellular models of hepatocyte function: primary hepatocytes and common immortalized liver cell lines (HepG2, Hep3B and Huh7), cultured in parallel in both 2D and 3D configurations. Two independent cultures were carried out for each of the cell lines. For primary cultures, cells were obtained from three independent donors and cultured in parallel in both conditions. For the 2D culture, cell lines were grown using standard culture methods and harvested sub-confluence in exponential growth phase. For the 2D culture of primary hepatocytes, cells were grown in sandwich configuration between two layers of extracellular matrix (collagen coated plates and medium containing 0.25mg/ml Matrigel) and harvested at day 9 post seeding. For 3D cultures, cells were seeded at 1500 cells per well in ultra-low adherence multi-well plates to facilitate cellular aggregation and spheroid formation. Cell line spheroids aggregated rapidly and were harvested 4-5 days post seeding. Primary cell spheroids formed more slowly and were harvested 14-17 days post seeding. This RNA-seq experiment is being carried out as part of the Open Targets project to identify a gene expression signature of common immortalized cell lines/models. This signature will be used in combination with data from ChIP-seq experiments from the same cell lines against primary cells and tissues. The overall aim of the Open Targets Cell Line Epigenome project is to establish a systematic approach for the determination of human biological and disease relevance through the generation of transcriptomic and epigenomic data in cell lines of interest. Comparison of cell line mRNA expression and epigenome data with existing and newly generated reference data from human tissue and cell types will identify assay systems that will provide greater confidence in translating target biology and compound pharmacology to patients.
Project description:mRNA sequencing of mesenchymal stem cells in 2D culture systems, mesenchymal stem cells spheroids and mesenchymal stem cells/extracellular matrix in 3D culture systems to profile gene expressions