Physical Cues in the Microenvironment Regulate Stemness-Dependent Homing of Breast Cancer Cells.

ABSTRACT: Tissue-specific microenvironmental factors contribute to the targeting preferences of metastatic cancers. However, the physical attributes of the premetastatic microenvironment are not yet fully characterized. In this research, we develop a transwell-based alginate hydrogel (TAH) model to study how permeability, stiffness, and roughness of a hanging alginate hydrogel regulate breast cancer cell homing. In this model, a layer of physically characterized alginate hydrogel is formed at the bottom of a transwell insert, which is placed into a matching culture well with an adherent monolayer of breast cancer cells. We found that breast cancer cells dissociate from the monolayer and home to the TAH for continual growth. The process is facilitated by the presence of rich serum in the upper chambe

SUBMITTER: Chu HY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7464848 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature