Institute of Biophotonics, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, 11221, Taiwan.
Lab Chip. 2011 May 21;11(10):1808-14. doi: 10.1039/c1lc20090a. Epub 2011 Apr 14.
We use a microfluidic cell culture chip equipped with pneumatic microvalves to analyze the paracrine loop between lung cancer cells and fibroblasts. In order to assess the cellular responses in the paracrine loop, we measure the migration speeds of cancer cells and the aspect ratios of fibroblasts which reflect the phenotype of myofibroblasts. With well-controlled interaction sequences between these two types of cells, we verify that the cytokines from cancer cells effectively stimulate the fibroblasts into myofibroblasts. The cytokines from myofibroblasts, rather than fibroblasts, increase the migration speeds of cancer cells. We confirm that the transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) is involved in the interaction between cancer cells and fibroblasts, and we also interrupt this paracrine loop in the cell culture chip by inhibiting the TGF-β1 receptors on fibroblasts.
我们使用配备气动微阀的微流控细胞培养芯片来分析肺癌细胞和成纤维细胞之间的旁分泌环。为了评估旁分泌环中的细胞反应，我们测量癌细胞的迁移速度和反映成纤维细胞肌成纤维细胞表型的纵横比。通过这两种细胞之间的受控相互作用序列，我们验证了癌细胞中的细胞因子有效地刺激成纤维细胞转化为肌成纤维细胞。来自肌成纤维细胞而不是成纤维细胞的细胞因子增加了癌细胞的迁移速度。我们证实转化生长因子-β1（TGF-β1）参与了癌细胞和成纤维细胞之间的相互作用，我们还通过抑制成纤维细胞上的 TGF-β1 受体在细胞培养芯片中中断这种旁分泌环。
