Blood-brain barrier remodeling in an organ-on-a-chip device shows Dkk1 to be a regulator of early metastasis.
Trisha M WesterhofBenjamin A YangNathan M MerillJoel A YatesMegan AltemusLiam RussellAnna J MillerLiwei BaoZhifen WuPeter J UlintzCarlos A AguilarAki MorikawaMaria G CastroSofia D MerajverChristopher R OliverPublished in: Advanced nanobiomed research (2023)
Brain metastases are the most lethal progression event, in part because the biological processes underpinning brain metastases are poorly understood. There is a paucity of realistic models of metastasis, as current in vivo murine models are slow to manifest metastasis. We set out to delineate metabolic and secretory modulators of brain metastases by utilizing two models consisting of in vitro microfluidic devices: 1) a blood brain niche (BBN) chip that recapitulates the blood-brain-barrier and niche; and 2) a migration chip that assesses cell migration. We report secretory cues provided by the brain niche that attract metastatic cancer cells to colonize the brain niche region. Astrocytic Dkk-1 is increased in response to brain-seeking breast cancer cells and stimulates cancer cell migration. Brain-metastatic cancer cells under Dkk-1 stimulation increase gene expression of FGF-13 and PLCB1. Further, extracellular Dkk-1 modulates cancer cell migration upon entering the brain niche.
Keyphrases
- cell migration
- brain metastases
- small cell lung cancer
- resting state
- white matter
- blood brain barrier
- cerebral ischemia
- gene expression
- high throughput
- functional connectivity
- squamous cell carcinoma
- papillary thyroid
- dna methylation
- breast cancer cells
- small molecule
- young adults
- multiple sclerosis
- mental health
- brain injury
- subarachnoid hemorrhage
- lymph node metastasis