Dataset Information

Organotypic microfluidic breast cancer model reveals starvation-induced spatial-temporal metabolic adaptations

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is the earliest stage of breast cancer. During DCIS, tumor cells remain inside the mammary duct, growing under a microenvironment characterized by hypoxia, nutrient starvation, and waste product accumulation; this harsh microenvironment promotes genomic instability and eventually cell invasion. However, there is a lack of biomarkers to predict what patients will transition to a more invasive tumor or how DCIS cells manage to survive in this harsh microenvironment.
METHODS: In this work, we have developed a microfluidic model that recapitulates the DCIS microenvironment. In the microdevice, a DCIS model cell line was grown inside a luminal mammary duct model, embedded in a 3D hydrogel with mammary fibroblasts. Cell behavior was monitored by confocal microscopy and optical metabolic imaging. Additionally, metabolite profile was studied by NMR whereas gene expression was analyzed by RT-qPCR.
FINDINGS: DCIS cell metabolism led to hypoxia and nutrient starvation; revealing an altered metabolism focused on glycolysis and other hypoxia-associated pathways. In response to this starvation and hypoxia, DCIS cells modified the expression of multiple genes, and a gradient of different metabolic phenotypes was observed across the mammary duct model. These genetic changes observed in the model were in good agreement with patient genomic profiles; identifying multiple compounds targeting the affected pathways. In this context, the hypoxia-activated prodrug tirapazamine selectively destroyed hypoxic DCIS cells.
INTERPRETATION: The results showed the capacity of the microfluidic model to mimic the DCIS structure, identifying multiple cellular adaptations to endure the hypoxia and nutrient starvation generated within the mammary duct. These findings may suggest new potential therapeutic directions to treat DCIS. In summary, given the lack of in vitro models to study DCIS, this microfluidic device holds great potential to find new DCIS predictors and therapies and translate them to the clinic.

INSTRUMENT(S): Bruker

SUBMITTER: Suehelay Acevedo

PROVIDER: MTBLS669 | MetaboLights | 2019-02-08

REPOSITORIES: MetaboLights

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Organotypic microfluidic breast cancer model reveals starvation-induced spatial-temporal metabolic adaptations.

Ayuso Jose M JM Gillette Amani A Lugo-Cintrón Karina K Acevedo-Acevedo Suehelay S Gomez Ismael I Morgan Molly M Heaster Tiffany T Wisinski Kari B KB Palecek Sean P SP Skala Melissa C MC Beebe David J DJ

EBioMedicine 20181026

<h4>Background</h4>Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is the earliest stage of breast cancer. During DCIS, tumor cells remain inside the mammary duct, growing under a microenvironment characterized by hypoxia, nutrient starvation, and waste product accumulation; this harsh microenvironment promotes genomic instability and eventually cell invasion. However, there is a lack of biomarkers to predict what patients will transition to a more invasive tumor or how DCIS cells manage to survive in this hars ...[more]

PMID: 30482722

Similar Datasets

Project description:Although malignant gliomas frequently show aberrant activation of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), mTOR inhibitors have performed poorly in clinical trials. Besides regulating cell growth and translation, mTOR controls the initiation of autophagy. By recycling cellular components, autophagy can mobilize energy resources, and has thus been attributed cancer-promoting effects. Here, we asked whether the activation of autophagy represents an escape mechanism to pharmacological mTOR inhibition, and explored co-treatment with mTOR and autophagy inhibitors as a therapeutic strategy. Mimicking conditions of the glioma microenvironment, glioma cells were exposed to nutrient starvation and hypoxia. Following treatment with mTOR inhibitor torin2 or rapamycin, and autophagy inhibitors bafilomycin A1 or MRT68921, we analyzed autophagic activity, cell growth, viability and oxygen consumption. Changes in global proteome were quantified by mass spectrometry. In the context of hypoxia and starvation, autophagy was strongly induced in glioma cells, and further increased by mTOR inhibition. While torin2 enhanced glioma cell survival, co-treatment with torin2 and bafilomycin A1 failed to promote cell death. Importantly, treatment with bafilomycin A1 alone also protected glioma cells from cell death. Mechanistically, both compounds significantly reduced glioma growth and oxygen consumption. Mass spectrometry analysis showed that bafilomycin A1 induced broad changes in the cellular proteome. More specifically, proteins downregulated by bafilomycin A1 were associated with the mitochondrial respiratory chain and ATP synthesis. Taken together, our results show that activation of autophagy does not account for the cytoprotective effects of mTOR inhibition in our in vitro model of the glioma microenvironment. Our proteomic findings suggest that the pharmacological inhibition of autophagy induces extensive changes in the cellular proteome that can support glioma cell survival under nutrient-deplete and hypoxic conditions. These findings provide a novel perspective on the complex role of autophagy in gliomas and may have implications for the design of future trials.

Dataset Information

Organotypic microfluidic breast cancer model reveals starvation-induced spatial-temporal metabolic adaptations

Publications

Organotypic microfluidic breast cancer model reveals starvation-induced spatial-temporal metabolic adaptations.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure