Immobilization rapidly selects for chemoresistant ovarian cancer cells with enhanced ability to enter dormancy.

ABSTRACT: Around 20-30% of ovarian cancer patients exhibit chemoresistance, but there are currently no methods to predict whether a patient will respond to chemotherapy. Here, we discovered that chemoresistant ovarian cancer cells exhibit enhanced survival in a quiescent state upon experiencing the stress of physical confinement. When immobilized in stiff silica gels, most ovarian cancer cells die within days, but surviving cells exhibit hallmarks of single-cell dormancy. Upon extraction from gels, the cells resume proliferation but demonstrate enhanced viability upon reimmobilization, indicating that initial immobilization selects for cells with a higher propensity to enter dormancy. RNA-seq analysis of the extracted cells shows they have signaling responses similar to cells surviving cisplatin tre

SUBMITTER: Lam T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8505013 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature