Zhang Yuanqing, Wen Jianguo, Zhou Ledu, Qin Lidong
Department of Nanomedicine, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Integr Biol (Camb). 2015 Jun;7(6):672-80. doi: 10.1039/c5ib00059a. Epub 2015 May 12.
Hypoxia is a critical microenvironment in tumor pathogenesis. There is a close relationship between hypoxia, tumor metastasis and poor prognosis. Hypoxia has been shown to induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition and high levels of lactic acid production, through which cancer cells gain migratory capability. Here, we present a high-throughput microfluidic platform with a controlled oxygen environment to specifically monitor mesenchymal migration under hypoxic conditions. We found that, combined with a slightly alkaline microenvironment, such a platform can help to improve the efficiency of antimetastatic drugs. We also use this platform to study primary and rare cells from mice and demonstrate the correlation between on-chip results and in vivo outcome. This device may provide a new opportunity for biologists and clinicians to better perform assays that evaluate cancer cell behaviors related to metastasis.
缺氧是肿瘤发病机制中的关键微环境。缺氧与肿瘤转移及不良预后密切相关。研究表明，缺氧可诱导上皮-间质转化并产生高水平乳酸，癌细胞借此获得迁移能力。在此，我们展示了一种具有可控氧环境的高通量微流控平台，用于特异性监测缺氧条件下的间质迁移。我们发现，结合微碱性微环境，这样的平台有助于提高抗转移药物的效率。我们还利用该平台研究来自小鼠的原代细胞和稀有细胞，并证明芯片上的结果与体内结果之间的相关性。该装置可能为生物学家和临床医生更好地开展评估与转移相关的癌细胞行为的检测提供新机会。
