Current conventional cancer drug screening models based on two-dimensional (2D) cell culture have several flaws and there is a large need of more in vivo mimicking preclinical drug screening platforms Show more
Current conventional cancer drug screening models based on two-dimensional (2D) cell culture have several flaws and there is a large need of more in vivo mimicking preclinical drug screening platforms. The microenvironment is crucial for the cells to adapt relevant in vivo characteristics and here we introduce a new cell culture system based on three-dimensional (3D) printed scaffolds using cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) pre-treated with 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpyperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) as the structural material component. Breast cancer cell lines, MCF7 and MDA-MB-231, were cultured in 3D TEMPO-CNF scaffolds and were shown by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and histochemistry to grow in multiple layers as a heterogenous cell population with different morphologies, contrasting 2D cultured mono-layered cells with a morphologically homogenous cell population. Gene expression analysis demonstrated that 3D TEMPO-CNF scaffolds induced elevation of the stemness marker Show less
Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome-positive leukemia is characterized by the BCR/ABL1 fusion protein that affects a wide range of signal transduction pathways. The knowledge about its downstream target gene Show more
Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome-positive leukemia is characterized by the BCR/ABL1 fusion protein that affects a wide range of signal transduction pathways. The knowledge about its downstream target genes is, however, still quite limited. To identify novel BCR/ABL1-regulated genes we used global gene expression profiling of several Ph-positive and Ph-negative cell lines treated with imatinib. Following imatinib treatment, the Ph-positive cells showed decreased growth, viability, and reduced phosphorylation of BCR/ABL1 and STAT5. In total, 142 genes were identified as being dependent on BCR/ABL1-mediated signaling, mainly including genes involved in signal transduction, e.g. the JAK/STAT, MAPK, TGFB, and insulin signaling pathways, and in regulation of metabolism. Interestingly, BCR/ABL1 was found to activate several genes involved in negative feedback regulation (CISH, SOCS2, SOCS3, PIM1, DUSP6, and TNFAIP3), which may act to indirectly suppress the tumor promoting effects exerted by BCR/ABL1. In addition, several genes identified as deregulated upon BCR/ABL1 expression could be assigned to the TGFB and NFkB signaling pathways, as well as to reflect the metabolic adjustments needed for rapidly growing cells. Apart from providing important pathogenetic insights into BCR/ABL1-mediated leukemogenesis, the present study also provides a number of pathways/individual genes that may provide attractive targets for future development of targeted therapies. This article contains Supplementary Material available at http://www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/1045-2257/suppmat. Show less