Automated Analysis of Extracellular Matrix Invasion of Cancer Cells from Tumor Spheroids.

The main cause of mortality among cancer patients is metastatic disease. Metastasis develops from cancer cells that invade the stromal tissue and intravasate the circulatory or lymphatic systems to eventually form new tumors in other organs. Blocking cancer cell invasion can potentially prevent or reduce the metastatic progression of cancers. Testing different chemical compounds against cell invasion in three-dimensional cultures is a common laboratory technique. The efficacy of the treatments is often evaluated from confocal microscopic images of the cells using image processing. However, the analysis approaches are often subject to variations and inconsistencies due to user decisions that must be made while processing each image. To overcome this limitation, we developed a fully automated method to quantify the invasion of cancer cells from a 3D tumor spheroid into the surrounding extracellular matrix. We demonstrated that this method resolves cell invasion from spheroids of different shapes and sizes and from cells that invade as a cluster or individually. We also showed that this approach can help quantify the dose-dependent anti-invasive effects of a commonly used chemotherapy drug. Our automated method significantly reduces the time and increases the consistency and accuracy of cancer cell invasion analysis in three-dimensional cultures.

A Quantitative Study of Transport of Surfactant Boli in a Three-Dimensional Lung Model of Neonates.

Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome is mainly treated with the intratracheal delivery of pulmonary surfactants. The success of the therapy depends on the uniformity of distribution and efficiency of delivery of the instilled surfactant solution to the respiratory zone of the lungs. Direct imaging of the surfactant distribution and quantifying the efficiency of delivery is not feasible in neonates. To address this major limitation, we designed an eight-generation computational model of neonate lung airway tree using morphometric and geometric data of human lungs and fabricated it using additive manufacturing. Using this model, we performed systematic studies of delivery of a clinical surfactant either at a single aliquot or at two aliquots under different orientations of the airway tree in the gravitational space to mimic rolling a neonate on its side during the procedure. Our study offers both a novel lung airway model and new insights into effects of the orientation of the lung airways and presence of a pre-existing surfactant film on how the instilled surfactant solution distributes in airways.

Therapeutic Targeting of Cancer Stem Cells Prevents Resistance of Colorectal Cancer Cells to MEK Inhibition.

Drug resistance is a leading cause for the failure of cancer treatments. Plasticity of cancer cells to acquire stem cell-like properties enables them to escape drug toxicity through different adaptive mechanisms. Eliminating cancer stem cells (CSCs) can potentially improve treatment outcomes for patients. To determine the role of CSCs in resistance of colorectal cancer cells to targeted therapies and identify treatment strategies, we treated spheroids of BRAFmut and KRASmut colorectal cancer cells with inhibitors of the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway and studied resistance mechanisms through gene and protein expression analyses. We found that treatments activated several oncogenic pathways and expression of CSC markers CD166 and ALDH1A3. We identified a specific combination treatment using trametinib and mithramycin A to simultaneously inhibit the CSC phenotype and activities of several pathways in cancer cells. This study demonstrates the feasibility of therapeutic targeting of CSCs as a strategy to block tumorigenic activities of cancer cells.

Therapeutic Targeting of Stromal-Tumor HGF-MET Signaling in an Organotypic Triple-Negative Breast Tumor Model.

The tumor microenvironment (TME) promotes proliferation, drug resistance, and invasiveness of cancer cells. Therapeutic targeting of the TME is an attractive strategy to improve outcomes for patients, particularly in aggressive cancers such as triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) that have a rich stroma and limited targeted therapies. However, lack of preclinical human tumor models for mechanistic understanding of tumor-stromal interactions has been an impediment to identify effective treatments against the TME. To address this need, we developed a three-dimensional organotypic tumor model to study interactions of patient-derived cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF) with TNBC cells and explore potential therapy targets. We found that CAFs predominantly secreted hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and activated MET receptor tyrosine kinase in TNBC cells. This tumor-stromal interaction promoted invasiveness, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, and activities of multiple oncogenic pathways in TNBC cells. Importantly, we established that TNBC cells become resistant to monotherapy and demonstrated a design-driven approach to select drug combinations that effectively inhibit prometastatic functions of TNBC cells. Our study also showed that HGF from lung fibroblasts promotes colony formation by TNBC cells, suggesting that blocking HGF-MET signaling potentially could target both primary TNBC tumorigenesis and lung metastasis. Overall, we established the utility of our organotypic tumor model to identify and therapeutically target specific mechanisms of tumor-stromal interactions in TNBC toward the goal of developing targeted therapies against the TME. IMPLICATIONS: Leveraging a state-of-the-art organotypic tumor model, we demonstrated that CAFs-mediated HGF-MET signaling drive tumorigenic activities in TNBC and presents a therapeutic target.

Toxicity of Combinations of Kinase Pathway Inhibitors to Normal Human Cells in a Three-Dimensional Culture.

Resistance to single-agent chemotherapy and molecularly targeted drugs prevents sustained efficacy of treatments. To address this challenge, combination drug treatments have been used to improve outcomes for patients. Potential toxicity of combination treatments is a major concern, however, and has led to the failure of several clinical trials in different cancers. The use of cell-based models of normal tissues in preclinical studies enables testing and identifying toxic effects of drug combinations and facilitates an informed decision-making process for advancing the treatments to animal models and clinical trials. Recently, we established that combinations of molecular inhibitors of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase-protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt) pathways effectively and synergistically inhibit growth of BRAFmut and KRASmut colorectal tumor spheroids by blocking feedback signaling of downstream kinase pathways. These pathways are important for cell proliferation, however, and their simultaneous inhibition may cause toxicity to normal cells. We used a cellular spheroid model to study toxicities of drug combinations to human bone marrow and colon. Our results indicated that MAPK and PI3K/Akt inhibitors used simultaneously were only moderately toxic to bone marrow cells but significantly more toxic to colon cells. Our molecular analysis of proliferative cell activities and housekeeping proteins further corroborated these results. Overall, our approach to identify toxic effects of combinations of cancer drugs to normal cells in three-dimensional cultures will facilitate more informed treatment selections for subsequent animal studies.