Three-dimensional type I collagen gel system for the study of osteoblastic metastases produced by metastatic prostate cancer.

We developed a three-dimensional type I collagen gel cell culture system that allows coculturing of human MG-63 osteoblast-like cells and various human cancer cells. Inoculation of human PC-3 metastatic prostate cancer cells into this type I collagen gel containing human MG-63 osteoblast-like cells produced an osteoblastic-like reaction that presented as an increased number of MG-63 cells and increased density of type I collagen around MG-63 cells adjacent to inoculated PC-3 cells by microscope analysis. Under identical experimental conditions, inoculation of cell-free medium, human KLE endometrial adenocarcinoma cells, and Calu-1 lung cancer cells did not produce this blastic-like reaction. In situ hybridization documented the uniform expression of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) mRNA in MG-63 and PC-3 cells separately cultured in this substrata. The uniform expression of uPA was also documented by immunocytochemistry using a monoclonal and a polyclonal antihuman uPA antibody. The relative expression of uPA was higher in PC-3 cells than in MG-63, KLE, and Calu-1 cancer cells. We conclude that this novel cell culture system may become a useful model to study the pathophysiology of the osteoblastic reaction in vitro.