Platelet-Rich and Platelet-Poor Plasma Might Play Supportive Roles in Cancer Cell Culture: A Replacement for Fetal Bovine Serum?

BACKGROUND: Platelet-Rich (PRP) and Platelet-Poor plasma (PPP) are widely used in research and clinical platforms mainly due to their capacities to enhance cell growth. Although the short half-life (5 days) and the high price of platelet products pose challenges regarding their usage, they maintain the growth regulatory functions for weeks. Thus, we aimed to assess the supplementary values of these products in human CCRF- CEM cancer cells. Mechanistically, we also checked if the PRP/PPP treatment enhances YKL-40 expression as a known protein regulating cell growth. METHODS: The PRP/PPP was prepared from healthy donors using manual stepwise centrifugation and phase separation. The viability of the cells treated with gradient PRP/PPP concentrations (2, 5, 10, and 15%) was measured by the MTT assay. The YKL-40 mRNA and protein levels were assessed using qRT-PCR and western blotting. The data were compared to FBS-treated cells. RESULTS: Our findings revealed that the cells treated by PRP/PPP not only were morphologically comparable to those treated by FBS but also showed greater viability at the concentrations of 10 and 15%. Moreover, it was shown that PRP/PPP induce cell culture support, at least in part, via inducing YKL-40 expression at both mRNA and protein levels in a time- and dose-dependent manner. CONCLUSION: Collectively, by showing cell culture support comparable to FBS, the PRP/PPP might be used as good candidates to supplement the cancer cell culture and overcome concerns regarding the use of FBS as a non-human source in human cancer research.

The role of tumor suppressor of resveratrol and prednisolone by downregulation of YKL-40 expression in CCRF-CEM cell line.

BACKGROUND: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is characterized by excessive accumulation of lymphoblast and progenitors. Leukemia is the most common cancer in children and ALL is the most common subtype. Many studies have shown that the YKL-40 gene is one of the most widely expressed genes in tumors, including leukemia, but not in healthy blood cells. Clinical studies have shown that serum YKL-40 levels have a positive correlation with tumor expansion, in addition to being a prognostic agent independent of a short relapse-free interval, as well as a brief overall survival in patients with various cancers. The previous study shows that YKL-40 is closely related to the degree of pathology or degree of human leukemia pathology and plays an important role in cell proliferation. Hence, the YKL-40 can be an attractive target in designing anticancer therapies. METHODS: CCRF-CEM cells were treated with resveratrol and prednisolone. For analysis of YKL-40 expression changes under medication, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Western blot techniques were used at resonating intervals of 24 and 48 hours. RESULTS: The effect of 15, 50, and 100 µM resveratrol and 700 µM of prednisolone on CCRF-CEM cells reduced YKL-40. The YKL-40 gene was quantitatively measured using RT-PCR. The Western blot method was used to evaluate changes in the expression of YKL-40 protein. CONCLUSION: In this study, we first evaluated YKL-40 expression and resveratrol and prednisolone effect on YKL-40 in ALL. This finding supports the idea of targeting YKL-40 as a new drug treatment of ALL and extends the use of resveratrol in antileukemia research.