Name: isolation of proximal fluids to investigate the tumor microenvironment of pancreatic adenocarcinoma
Uploaded: 2020-11-05T13:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Isolation of Proximal Fluids to Investigate the Tumor Microenvironment of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma at JoVE.com

We thank Roberta Migliore for technical assistance. The research leading to these results has received funding from Associazione Italiana per la ricerca sul cancro (AIRC) under IG2016-ID.18443 project &#8211; P.I. Marchesi Federica. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

For all patients enrolled, peripheral blood and pancreatic juice were collected at the time of surgery according to protocols approved by the Ethical Committee of the Institution. All the patients were enrolled in the study after signed informed consent including collection of biological specimens and clinical data. The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of the Institution (protocol number ICH-595, approval issued on May 2009). Procedures involving mice and their care were conformed to EU and Institutional Guide...

In this study we have described the technique to intraoperatively collect pancreatic juice, a largely unexplored fluid biopsy. We have recently shown that pancreatic juice can be exploited as a source of metabolic markers of disease12. Metabolomic analysis on other liquid biopsies, such as blood5,6,7, urine8, and saliva9, have shown promising results in disc...

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most aggressive tumors, and soon to become the second leading cause of death1,2,3. It is well-known for its immunosuppressive microenvironment and for its unresponsiveness to immunotherapy protocols4. Currently, surgical resection is still the only curative option for PDAC, yet there is a high frequency of early relapses and postsurgical complications. The lack of specific symptoms until an advanced stage does not allow for an early diagnosis, contributing to the deadliness of the disease. Furthermore, the overlap of symptoms between PDAC and other benign pancreatic pathologies can hamper the achievement of a prompt and reliable diagnosis with the current diagnostic strategies. The identification of variables associated to specific pancreatic pathologies could facilitate the surgical decision-making process and improve patient profiling.
Promising results in biomarker discovery have been achieved using easily accessible body fluids, such as blood5,6,7, urine8, saliva9 and pancreatic juice10,11,12. Many studies have exploited comprehensive &#8220;omics&#8221; approaches, such as genomic, proteomic and metabolomic techniques, to identify candidate molecules or signatures that could discriminate between PDAC and other benign pancreatic afflictions. We recently demonstrated that pancreatic juice, a relatively unexplored body fluid, can be used to identify metabolic signatures of patients with distinct clinical profiles12. Pancreatic juice is a protein-rich fluid, which accumulates the secretome of pancreatic ductal cells and flows to the main pancreatic duct, and then to the main common bile duct. Due to its proximity to the pancreas, it could be strongly affected by microenvironmental perturbations induced by the tumor mass (Figure 1), and therefore more informative than blood or urine, or tissue-based profiling. Several studies have explored the potential of pancreatic juice to identify novel biomarkers of disease using various approaches, including cytologic analysis13, proteomic analysis performed by mass-spectrometry14,15, assessment of genetic and epigenetic markers such as K-ras and p53 mutations16,17, alterations in DNA methylation18, and miRNAs19. Technically, pancreatic juice can be collected intraoperatively or with minimally invasive procedures, such as endoscopic ultrasound, retrograde cholangio-pancreatography, or by endoscopic collection of duodenal juice secretion20. It is not yet clear to what extent pancreatic juice composition is affected by the collection technique used. We describe here the intraoperative collection procedure and show that pancreatic juice can represent a precious source for PDAC biomarkers.
<img alt="Figure 1" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/61687/61687fig01.jpg" /> 
Figure 1: Schematic representation of pancreatic juice collection.&#160;(A) Schematic representation depicting the secretion of pancreatic juice into the pancreatic duct and its collection during surgery. The inset shows a close-up of the tumor microenvironment: pancreatic juice collects molecules released by tumor and stromal cells in the pancreatic ducts. <a href="https://www.jove.com/files/ftp_upload/61687/61687fig01large.jpg" target="_blank">Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.</a>
The collection of pancreatic juice in genetic and orthotopic mouse models of PDAC would be appreciated in the perspective to exploit this biofluid in preclinical mechanistic studies; however, this procedure can be technically very challenging and is not feasible for simpler models such as subcutaneous tumors. For this reason, we identified tumor interstitial fluid (TIF) as an alternative source to pancreatic juice, for its similar characteristic of acting as an indicator of surrounding perturbations. Interstitial fluid (IF) is the extracellular liquid, found outside blood and lymphatic vessels, which bathes tissue cells21. IF composition is affected by both blood circulation to the organ and local secretion; in fact, surrounding cells actively produce and secrete proteins in the IF21. The interstitium reflects microenvironmental changes of surrounding tissues and could therefore represent a valuable source for biomarker discovery in several pathological contexts, such as tumors. The high concentration of locally secreted proteins in TIF can be used to identify candidate molecules to be tested as prognostic or diagnostic biomarkers in plasma22,23,24. Several studies have proven TIF to be a suitable sample for high-throughput proteomic approaches, such as mass spectrometry techniques23,24,25, as well as multiplex ELISA approaches26, and microRNA profiling27.
Several approaches have been proposed for the isolation of IF in tumors, which can be broadly categorized as in vivo (capillary ultrafiltration28,29,30,31 and microdialysis32,33,34,35) and ex vivo methods (tissue centrifugation22,36,37,38 and tissue elution39,40,41,42). These techniques have been reviewed in extensive detail43,44. The choice of the appropriate method should take into account issues such as the downstream analyses and applications and the volume recovered. We recently used this approach as a proof of principle to demonstrate the different metabolic activity of tumors from two murine pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell lines12. Based on literature24,38, we chose to use the low speed centrifugation method to avoid cell breakage and dilution from intracellular content. Both the amount of glucose and lactate in TIF reflected the different glycolytic characteristics of the two different cell lines. Here we describe in detail the protocol for the two most commonly used methods for the isolation of TIF: tissue centrifugation and tissue elution (Figure 2).
<img alt="Figure 2" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/61687/61687fig02.jpg" /> 
Figure 2: Schematic representation of tumor interstitial fluid isolation methods.&#160;Schematic illustration of the techniques described in detail in the protocol, namely tissue centrifugation (A) and tissue elution (B). <a href="https://www.jove.com/files/ftp_upload/61687/61687fig02large.jpg" target="_blank">Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.</a>

<table>
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			<td>1 mL syringe</td>
			<td>BD Biosciences</td>
			<td>309659</td>
			<td></td>
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			<td>1.5 mL Eppendorf tube</td>
			<td>Greiner BioOne</td>
			<td>GR616201</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>20 &#181;m nylon cell strainer</td>
			<td>pluriSelect</td>
			<td>43-50020-03</td>
			<td></td>
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			<td>25G needle</td>
			<td>BD Biosciences</td>
			<td>305122</td>
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			<td>3 mL K2EDTA vacutainer</td>
			<td>BD Biosciences</td>
			<td>366473</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
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			<td>3 mL syringe</td>
			<td>BD Biosciences</td>
			<td>309656</td>
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			<td>50 mL Falcon tube</td>
			<td>Corning</td>
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			<td>Clamps</td>
			<td>Medicon</td>
			<td>06.20.12</td>
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			<td>Disposable scalpel</td>
			<td>Medicom</td>
			<td>9000-10</td>
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			<td>Fetal bovine serum</td>
			<td>Microtech</td>
			<td>MG10432</td>
			<td></td>
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			<td>Flat-tipped forceps</td>
			<td>Medicon</td>
			<td>06.00.10</td>
			<td></td>
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		<tr>
			<td>Penicillin-Streptomycin</td>
			<td>Lonza</td>
			<td>ECB3001D</td>
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			<td>Phosphate-Buffered Saline (PBS)</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>D8537</td>
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			<td>Protease inhibitor cocktail</td>
			<td>Roche</td>
			<td>34044100</td>
			<td></td>
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			<td>RPMI medium</td>
			<td>Euroclone</td>
			<td>ECB9006L</td>
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			<td>Scissors</td>
			<td>Medicon</td>
			<td>02.04.09</td>
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			<td>Trypsin/EDTA 1x</td>
			<td>Lonza</td>
			<td>BE17-161F</td>
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			<td>Ultraglutamine 100x</td>
			<td>Lonza</td>
			<td>BE17-605E/U1</td>
			<td></td>
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isolation of proximal fluids to investigate the tumor microenvironment of pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death, and soon to become the second. There is an urgent need of variables associated to specific pancreatic pathologies to help preoperative differential diagnosis and patient profiling. Pancreatic juice is a relatively unexplored body fluid, which, due to its close proximity to the tumor site, reflects changes in the surrounding tissue. Here we describe in detail the intraoperative collection procedure. Unfortunately, translating pancreatic juice collection to murine models of PDAC, to perform mechanistic studies, is technically very challenging. Tumor interstitial fluid (TIF) is the extracellular fluid, outside blood and plasma, which bathes tumor and stromal cells. Similarly to pancreatic juice, for its property to collect and concentrate molecules that are found diluted in plasma, TIF can be exploited as an indicator of microenvironmental alterations and as a valuable source of disease-associated biomarkers. Since TIF is not readily accessible, various techniques have been proposed for its isolation. We describe here two simple and technically undemanding methods for its isolation: tissue centrifugation and tissue elution.

We followed the procedure described above to obtain pancreatic juice from patients with PDAC (n=31) and other benign pancreatic afflictions (non-PDAC, n=9), including pancreatitis (n=2), papillary-ampulla tumors (n=4), neuroendocrine tumors (n=2), intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasia (IPMN; n=1)12. The pancreatic juice samples were then subjected to metabolomic analysis using nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR)12. By filtering the broad NMR signa...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Isolation of Proximal Fluids to Investigate the Tumor Microenvironment of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma at JoVE.com

Isolation of Proximal Fluids to Investigate the Tumor Microenvironment of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic juice is a precious source of biomarkers for human pancreatic cancer. We describe here a method for intraoperative collection procedure. To overcome the challenge of adopting this procedure in murine models, we suggest an alternative sample, tumor interstitial fluid, and describe here two protocols for its isolation.

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death, and soon to become the second. There is an urgent need of variables ...

The method described here to isolate proximal fluid both in human and in mice, can be applied to study the microenvironment of pancreatic cancer to identify new biomarkers of disease. Using this straightforward protocol, it is possible to translate clinical findings from pancreatic juice to murine models of PDAC to perform mechanistic studies. Pancreatic juice is a largely unexplored body fluid which has shown promise as a source of precious biomarkers to help pre-operative diagnosis and patient profiling.I will demonstrate the first part of the protocol, and Marialuisa Barbagallo, a postdoc from our laboratory, will demonstrate the second part of the protocol. Estimate the location of the pancreatic duct using measurements acquired during imaging. Then palpate the anterior surface of the pancreas to identify its precise location.Hold the pancreatic head in the duodenum from underneath, and elevate it with the left hand, marking the location of the pancreatic duct with the first digit. Use the right hand to insert a three milliliter syringe with a 25-gauge needle into the pancreas, just distal to the left thumb. Decide the depth of penetration and the degree of inclination of the needle based on preoperative measurements, and on the perception of having penetrated the duct wall.Withdraw the juice with the syringe. If it is not possible to retrieve the juice, relocate the needle in an attempt to cannulate the pancreatic duct. Once the pancreatic juice is retrieved, move it outside the sterile field, and transfer it to a three milliliter EDTA vacuum test tube.Keep the tube at four degree Celsius until the sample is transferred to the lab. To process the pancreatic juice, centrifuge it at 400 G and four degree Celsius for 10 minutes to remove any cells or debris. Recover the supernatant, aliquot it, and store it at 80 degree Celsius until further analyses.To isolate tumor interstitial fluid or TIF, by centrifugation, cut the tumor in half, rinse the two parts in PBS, and blot them gently on filter paper, moving as fast as possible to avoid evaporation from the tumor. Immediately transfer the tumor into a 20 micrometer nylon cell strainer, affixed to a 50 milliliter conical tube. Centrifuge the tube at 400 G for 10 minutes at four degrees Celsius.Recover the TIF from the bottom of the tube, then aliquot it and immediately freeze it on dry ice. Store at 80 degrees Celsius until further analysis. To isolate the TIF using elution, cut the tumor into small pieces with scissors or a scalpel, and rinse them carefully with cold PBS.Transfer the tumor pieces into a 1.5 milliliter tube, and add 500 microliters of PBS with a Protease Inhibitor Cocktail to avoid degradation of analytes. Incubate the tissue for one hour at 37 degree Celsius and 5%carbon dioxide. Transfer the supernatant to a new 1.5 milliliter tube, and perform a series of centrifugation steps at four degree Celsius to remove any cells from the sample.Recovering the supernatant after each centrifugation and transferring it to a new tube. After the last centrifugation, immediately aliquot and freeze the TIF sample on dry ice. Store it at 80 degrees Celsius until further analysis.This protocol was used to obtain the pancreatic juice from patients with PDAC and other benign pancreatic afflictions. After filtering the broad NMR signals of macromolecules, the signals from small molecular weight metabolites were apparent. Supervised OPLS-DA analysis showed that the metabolic profile in pancreatic juice was able to discriminate between PDAC and non-PDAC patients with an accuracy of 82.4%Interestingly, metabolomic analysis performed on plasma samples from the same patients, did not yield the same discriminative power.To demonstrate that tumor interstitial fluid content reliably reflects changes in the tumor microenvironment, two pancreatic cancer cell lines with opposite glycolytic rates were subcutaneously injected into mice. After excising the tumors, the concentrations of glucose and lactate were quantified. Tumor interstitial fluid from highly glycolytic tumors contained less glucose and more lactate compared to low glycolytic tumors.In this study, we performed metabolomics analysis. However, this proximal fluids are suitable for many other downstream application, such as mass spectrometry and microRNA profiling.

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Research

JoVE Journal

Cancer Research

Conditional Knockdown of Gene Expression in Cancer Cell Lines to Study the Recruitment of Monocytes/Macrophages to the Tumor Microenvironment

siRNA and shRNA-mediated knock down (KD) methods of regulating gene expression are invaluable tools for understanding gene and protein function. However, in the case that the KD of the protein of interest has a lethal effect on cells or the anticipated effect of the KD is time-dependent, unconditional KD methods are not appropriate. Conditional systems are more suitable in these cases and have been the subject of much interest. These include Ecdysone-inducible overexpression systems, Cytochrome P-450 induction system1, and the tetracycline regulated gene expression systems. 
The tetracycline regulated gene expression system enables reversible control over protein expression by induction of shRNA expression in the presence of tetracycline. In this protocol, we present an experimental design using functional Tet-ON system in human cancer cell lines for conditional regulation of gene expression. We then demonstrate the use of this system in the study of tumor cell-monocyte interaction.

This protocol serves as a scheme for setting up a functional Tet-ON system in cancer cell lines and its subsequent use, in particular for studying the role of tumor cell-derived proteins in recruitment of monocytes/macrophages to the tumor microenvironment.

siRNA and shRNA-mediated knock down (KD) methods of regulating gene expression are invaluable tools for understanding gene and protein function. However, ...

Immunophenotyping of Orthotopic Homograft (Syngeneic) of Murine Primary KPC Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma by Flow Cytometry

Homograft (syngeneic) tumors are the workhorse of today&#39;s immuno-oncology (I/O) preclinical research. The tumor microenvironment (TME), particularly its immune-components, is vital to the prognosis and prediction of treatment outcomes, especially those of immunotherapy. TME immune-components are composed of different subsets of tumor-infiltrating immune cells assessable by multi-color FACS. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is among the deadliest malignances lacking good treatment options, thus an urgent and unmet medical need. One important reason for its non-responsiveness to various therapies (chemo-, targeted, I/O) has been its abundant TME, consisting of fibroblasts and leukocytes that protect tumor cells from these therapies. Orthotopically implanted PDAC is believed to more accurately recapture the TME of human pancreatic cancers than conventional subcutaneous (SC) models.
Homograft tumors (KPC) are transplants of mouse spontaneous PDAC originating from genetically engineered KPC-mice (KrasG12D/+/P53-/-/Pdx1-Cre) (KPC-GEMM). The primary tumor tissue is cut into small fragments (~2 mm3) and transplanted subcutaneously (SC) to the syngeneic recipients (C57BL/6, 7&#8211;9 weeks old). The homografts were then surgically orthotopically transplanted onto the pancreas of new C57BL/6 mice, along with SC-implantation, which reached tumor volumes of 300&#8211;1,000 mm3 by 17 days. Only tumors of 400&#8211;600 mm3 were harvested per approved autopsy procedure and cleaned to remove the adjacent non-tumor tissues. They were dissociated per protocol using a tissue dissociator into single-cell suspensions, followed by staining with designated panels of fluorescently-labeled antibodies for various markers of different immune cells (lymphoid, myeloid and NK, DCs). The stained samples were analyzed using multi-color FACS to determine numbers of immune cells of different lineages, as well as their relative percentage within tumors. The immune profiles of orthotopic tumors were then compared to those of SC tumors. The preliminary data demonstrated significantly elevated infiltrating TILs/TAMs in tumors over the pancreas, and higher B-cell infiltration into orthotopic rather than SC tumors.

Immunophenotyping of Orthotopic Homograft Syngeneic of Murine Primary KPC Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma by Flow Cytometry

The experimental procedure on the immunophenotyping of murine orthotopic PDAC homografts aims at profiling the tumor immuno-microenvironment. Tumors are orthotopically implanted via surgery. Tumors of 200&#8211;600 mm3 in size were harvested and dissociated to prepare single-cell suspensions, followed by multi-immune marker FACS analysis using different fluorescently-labeled antibodies.

Homograft (syngeneic) tumors are the workhorse of today&#39;s immuno-oncology (I/O) preclinical research. The tumor microenvironment (TME), particularly ...

Isolation and Characterization of Patient-derived Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Organoid Models

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is amongst the most lethal malignancies. Recently, next-generation organoid culture methods enabling the 3-dimensional (3D) modeling of this disease have been described. Patient-derived organoid (PDO) models can be isolated from both surgical specimens as well as small biopsies and form rapidly in culture. Importantly, organoid models preserve the pathogenic genetic alterations detected in the patient&#39;s tumor and are predictive of the patient&#39;s treatment response, thus enabling translational studies. Here, we provide comprehensive protocols for adapting tissue culture workflow to study 3D, matrix embedded, organoid models. We detail methods and considerations for isolating and propagating primary PDAC organoids. Furthermore, we describe how bespoke organoid media is prepared and quality controlled in the laboratory. Finally, we describe assays for downstream characterization of the organoid models such as isolation of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), and drug testing. Importantly we provide critical considerations for implementing organoid methodology in a research laboratory.

Patient-derived organoid cultures of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma are a rapidly established 3-dimensional model that represent epithelial tumor cell compartments with high fidelity, enabling translational research into this lethal malignancy. Here, we provide detailed methods to establish and propagate organoids as well as to perform relevant biological assays using these models.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is amongst the most lethal malignancies. Recently, next-generation organoid culture methods enabling the ...

Ultrasound-Guided Orthotopic Implantation of Murine Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

The recent success of immune checkpoint blockade in melanoma and lung adenocarcinoma has galvanized the field of immuno-oncology as well as revealed the limitations of current treatments, as the majority of patients do not respond to immunotherapy. Development of accurate preclinical models to quickly identify novel and effective therapeutic combinations are critical to address this unmet clinical need. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is a canonical example of an immune checkpoint blockade resistant tumor with only 2% of patients responding to immunotherapy. The genetically engineered KrasG12D+/-;Trp53R172H+/-;Pdx-1 Cre (KPC) mouse model of PDA recapitulates human disease and is a valuable tool for assessing therapies for immunotherapy resistant in the preclinical setting, but time to tumor onset is highly variable. Surgical orthotopic tumor implantation models of PDA maintain the immunobiological hallmarks of the KPC tissue-specific tumor microenvironment (TME) but require a time-intensive procedure and introduce aberrant inflammation. Here, we use an ultrasound-guided orthotopic tumor implantation model (UG-OTIM) to non-invasively inject KPC-derived PDA cell lines directly into the mouse pancreas. UG-OTIM tumors grow in the endogenous tissue site, faithfully recapitulate histological features of the PDA TME, and reach enrollment-sized tumors for preclinical studies by four weeks after injection with minimal seeding on the peritoneal wall. The UG-OTIM system described here is a rapid and reproducible tumor model that may allow for high throughput analysis of novel therapeutic combinations in the murine PDA TME.

We describe a protocol for the ultrasound guided implantation of murine-derived pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cell lines directly into the native tumor site. This approach resulted in pancreatic tumors detectable by ultrasound scanning within 2-4 weeks of injection, and significantly reduced the proportion tumor cell seeding on the peritoneal wall as compared to surgical orthotopic implantation.

The recent success of immune checkpoint blockade in melanoma and lung adenocarcinoma has galvanized the field of immuno-oncology as well as revealed the ...

Analysis of Side Population in Solid Tumor Cell Lines

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are an important cause of tumor growth, metastasis, and recurrence. Isolation and identification of CSCs are of great significance for tumor research. Currently, several techniques are used for the identification and purification of CSCs from tumor tissues and tumor cell lines. Separation and analysis of side population (SP) cells are two of the commonly used methods. The methods rely on the ability of CSCs to rapidly expel fluorescent dyes, such as Hoechst 33342. The efflux of the dye is associated with the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters and can be inhibited by ABC transporter inhibitors. Methods for staining cultured tumor cells with Hoechst 33342 and analyzing the proportion of their SP cells by flow cytometry are described. This assay is convenient, fast, and cost-effective. Data generated in this assay can contribute to a better understanding of the effect of genes or other extracellular and intracellular signals on the stemness properties of tumor cells.

A convenient, fast, and cost-effective method to measure the proportion of side population cells in solid tumor cell lines is presented.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are an important cause of tumor growth, metastasis, and recurrence. Isolation and identification of CSCs are of great ...

A Mouse Model to Investigate the Role of Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts in Tumor Growth

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) can play an important role in tumor growth by creating a tumor-promoting microenvironment. Models to study the role of CAFs in the tumor microenvironment can be helpful for understanding the functional importance of fibroblasts, fibroblasts from different tissues, and specific genetic factors in fibroblasts. Mouse models are essential for understanding the contributors to tumor growth and progression in an in vivo context. Here, a protocol in which cancer cells are mixed with fibroblasts and introduced into mice to develop tumors is provided. Tumor sizes over time and final tumor weights are determined and compared among groups. The protocol described can provide more insight into the functional role of CAFs in tumor growth and progression.

A protocol to co-inject cancer cells and fibroblasts and monitor tumor growth over time is provided. This protocol can be used to understand the molecular basis for the role of fibroblasts as regulators of tumor growth.

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) can play an important role in tumor growth by creating a tumor-promoting microenvironment. Models to study the role ...

A Three-Dimensional Spheroid Model to Investigate the Tumor-Stromal Interaction in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

The aggressiveness and lack of well-tolerated and widely effective treatments for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the predominant form of liver cancer, rationalize its rank as the second most common cause of cancer-related death. Preclinical models need to be adapted to recapitulate the human conditions to select the best therapeutic candidates for clinical development and aid the delivery of personalized medicine. Three-dimensional (3D) cellular spheroid models show promise as an emerging in vitro alternative to two-dimensional (2D) monolayer cultures. Here, we describe a 3D tumor spheroid&#160;model which exploits the ability of individual cells to aggregate when maintained in hanging droplets, and is more representative of an in vivo environment than standard monolayers. Furthermore, 3D spheroids can be produced by combining homotypic or heterotypic cells, more reflective of the cellular heterogeneity in vivo, potentially enabling the study of environmental interactions that can influence progression and treatment responses. The current research optimized the cell density to form 3D homotypic and heterotypic tumor spheroids by immobilizing cell suspensions on the lids of standard 10 cm3 Petri dishes. Longitudinal analysis was performed to generate growth curves for homotypic versus heterotypic tumor/fibroblasts spheroids. Finally, the proliferative impact of fibroblasts (COS7 cells) and liver myofibroblasts (LX2) on homotypic tumor (Hep3B) spheroids was investigated. A seeding density of 3,000 cells (in 20 &#181;L media) successfully yielded Huh7/COS7 heterotypic spheroids, which displayed a steady increase in size up to culture day 8, followed by growth retardation. This finding was corroborated using Hep3B homotypic spheroids cultured in LX2 (human hepatic stellate cell line) conditioned medium (CM). LX2 CM triggered the proliferation of Hep3B spheroids compared to control tumor spheroids. In conclusion, this protocol has shown that 3D tumor spheroids can be used as a simple, economical, and prescreen in vitro tool to study tumor-stromal interactions more comprehensively.

Comprehensive in vitro models that faithfully recapitulate the relevant human disease are lacking. The current study presents three-dimensional (3D) tumor spheroid creation and culture, a reliable in vitro tool to study the tumor-stromal interaction in human hepatocellular carcinoma.

The aggressiveness and lack of well-tolerated and widely effective treatments for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the predominant form of liver ...

Industrialized, Artificial Intelligence-guided Laser Microdissection for Microscaled Proteomic Analysis of the Tumor Microenvironment

The tumor microenvironment (TME) represents a complex ecosystem comprised of dozens of distinct cell types, including tumor, stroma, and immune cell populations. To characterize proteome-level variation and tumor heterogeneity at scale, high-throughput methods are needed to selectively isolate discrete cellular populations in solid tumor malignancies. This protocol describes a high-throughput workflow, enabled by artificial intelligence (AI), that segments images of hematoxylin and eosin (H&#38;E)-stained, thin tissue sections into pathology-confirmed regions of interest for selective harvest of histology-resolved cell populations using laser microdissection (LMD). This strategy includes a novel algorithm enabling the transfer of regions denoting cell populations of interest, annotated using digital image software, directly to laser microscopes, thus enabling more facile collections. Successful implementation of this workflow was performed, demonstrating the utility of this harmonized method to selectively harvest tumor cell populations from the TME for quantitative, multiplexed proteomic analysis by high-resolution mass spectrometry. This strategy fully integrates with routine histopathology review, leveraging digital image analysis to support enrichment of cellular populations of interest and is fully generalizable, enabling harmonized harvests of cell populations from the TME for multiomic analyses.

This protocol describes a high-throughput workflow for artificial intelligence-driven segmentation of pathology-confirmed regions of interest from stained, thin tissue section images for enrichment of histology-resolved cell populations using laser microdissection. This strategy includes a novel algorithm enabling the transfer of demarcations denoting cell populations of interest directly to laser microscopes.

The tumor microenvironment (TME) represents a complex ecosystem comprised of dozens of distinct cell types, including tumor, stroma, and immune cell ...

Zebrafish Larvae as a Model to Evaluate Potential Radiosensitizers or Protectors

Zebrafish are extensively used in several kinds of research because they are one of the easily maintained vertebrate models and exhibit several features of a unique and convenient model system. As highly proliferative cells are more susceptible to radiation-induced DNA damage, zebrafish embryos are a front-line in vivo model in radiation research. In addition, this model projects the effect of radiation and different drugs within a short time, along with major biological events and associated responses. Several cancer studies have used zebrafish, and this protocol is based on the use of radiation modifiers in the context of radiotherapy and cancer. This method can be readily used to validate the effects of different drugs on irradiated and control (non-irradiated) embryos, thus identifying drugs as radio sensitizing or protective drugs. Although this methodology is used in most drug screening experiments, the details of the experiment and the toxicity assessment with the background of X-ray radiation exposure are limited or only briefly addressed, making it difficult to perform. This protocol addresses this issue and discusses the procedure and toxicity evaluation with a detailed illustration. The procedure describes a simple approach for using zebrafish embryos for radiation studies and radiation-based drug screening with much reliability and reproducibility.

The zebrafish has recently been exploited as a model to validate potential radiation modifiers. The present protocol describes the detailed steps to use zebrafish embryos for radiation-based screening experiments and some observational approaches to evaluate the effect of different treatments and radiation.

Zebrafish are extensively used in several kinds of research because they are one of the easily maintained vertebrate models and exhibit several features ...

Mapping the Tumor Immune Landscape: An In-Depth Multiplex IHC Analysis Protocol

Multiplex Immunohistochemical Analysis of the Spatial Immune Cell Landscape of the Tumor Microenvironment

The immune cell landscape of the tumor microenvironment potentially contains information for the discovery of prognostic and predictive biomarkers. Multiplex immunohistochemistry is a valuable tool to visualize and identify different types of immune cells in tumor tissues while retaining its spatial information. Here we provide detailed protocols to analyze lymphocyte, myeloid, and dendritic cell populations in tissue sections. Starting from cutting formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded sections, automatic multiplex staining procedures on an automated platform, scanning of the slides on a multispectral imaging microscope, to the analysis of images using an in-house-developed machine learning algorithm ImmuNet. These protocols can be applied to a variety of tumor specimens by simply switching tumor markers to analyze immune cells in different compartments of the sample (tumor versus invasive margin) and apply nearest-neighbor analysis. This analysis is not limited to tumor samples but can also be applied to other (non-)pathogenic tissues. Improvements to the equipment and workflow over the past few years have significantly shortened throughput times, which facilitates the future application of this procedure in the diagnostic setting.

Author Spotlight: Unlocking Insights into the Immune Cell Landscape of Tumors

This protocol describes in detail how immune cell characterization of the tumor microenvironment using multiplex immunohistochemistry is carried out.

The immune cell landscape of the tumor microenvironment potentially contains information for the discovery of prognostic and predictive biomarkers. ...