MDA-MB-231 Breast Cancer Cells and Their CSC Population Migrate Towards Low Oxygen in a Microfluidic Gradient Device

Sleeboom JJF, den Toonder JMJ, Cecilia Sahlgren

Forskningsoutput: TidskriftsbidragArtikelVetenskapligPeer review

18 Citeringar (Scopus)
13 Nedladdningar (Pure)

Sammanfattning

Most cancer deaths are caused by secondary tumors formed through metastasis, yet due to our limited understanding of this process, prevention remains a major challenge. Recently, cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been proposed as the source of metastases, but only little is known about their migratory behavior. Oxygen gradients in the tumor have been linked to directional migration of breast cancer cells. Here, we present a method to study the effect of oxygen gradients on the migratory behavior of breast CSCs using a microfluidic device. Our chip contains a chamber in which an oxygen gradient can be generated between hypoxic (<1%) and ambient (21%) conditions. We tracked the migration of CSCs obtained from MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells, and found that their migration patterns do not differ from the average MDA-MB-231 population. Surprisingly, we found that the cells migrate towards low oxygen levels, in contrast with an earlier study. We hypothesize that in our device, migration is exclusively due to the pure oxygen gradient, whereas the effects of oxygen in earlier work were obscured by additional cues from the tumor microenvironment (e.g., nutrients and metabolites). These results open new research directions into the role of oxygen in directing cancer and CSC migration.
OriginalspråkOdefinierat/okänt
Sidor (från-till)
Antal sidor15
TidskriftInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences
Volym19
Nummer10
DOI
StatusPublicerad - 2018
MoE-publikationstypA1 Tidskriftsartikel-refererad

Nyckelord

  • tumor microenvironment
  • oxygen gradient
  • microfluidics
  • cancer stem cells

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