Activated hepatic stellate cells play pivotal roles in hepatocellular carcinoma cell chemoresistance and migration in multicellular tumor spheroids.

ABSTRACT: Most Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are resistant to conventional chemotherapeutic agents and remain an unmet medical need. Recently, multiple studies on the crosstalk between HCC and their tumor microenvironment have been conducted to overcome chemoresistance in HCC. In this study, we formed multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTS) to elucidate the mechanisms of environment-mediated chemoresistance in HCC. We observed that hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) in MCTS significantly increased the compactness of spheroids and exhibited strong resistance to sorafenib and cisplatin relative to other types of stromal cells. Increased collagen 1A1 (COL1A1) expression was apparent in activated HSCs but not in fibroblasts or vascular endothelial cells in MCTS. Additionally, COL1A1 deficiency, which was incre

SUBMITTER: Song Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5113076 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature