Journal: Journal of Cell Communication and Signaling
Article Title: Human brain pericytes protect the blood–brain barrier from triple‐negative breast cancer cells while promoting tumor aggressiveness
doi: 10.1002/ccs3.70070
Figure Lengend Snippet: Brain pericyte secretions mediate the inhibition of TNBC cell adhesion to the BBB. (A) Experimental workflow for adhesion assay. All BBB experiments were performed using ECGMV2 medium with supplements for all conditions from day −6 to the end of the experiment. The astrocyte medium was renewed 24 h before the adhesion experiment with the same ECGMV2 medium. Endothelial cells (ECs) and brain pericytes (hBPs) were co‐cultured for 5 days, and inserts containing brain‐like endothelial cells (hBLECs) were then either maintained with hBPs or transferred to wells without hBPs. After 24 hours, and prior to MDA‐MB‐231 cells seeding, inserts were subjected to the following conditions: maintained without hBPs (hBLEC 24h); transferred to hBPs previously cultured alone for 24 hours (hBLEC 24h then hBP); transferred to wells without hBPs but containing either culture medium (hBLEC) or CM from co‐culture (hBLEC + CM coc ); transferred to wells with astrocytes (hBLEC + A) or maintained in co‐culture with hBPs (hBLEC + hBP). (B–G), Quantification (B, D, F) of MDA‐MB‐231 cell adhesion to hBLECs after 3 h of incubation and representative images (C, E, G) of adhered MDA‐MB‐231 cells (green) under the different conditions. Data are obtained from three independent experiments, with three technical replicates per condition. Statistical analyses were performed using one‐way ANOVA followed by Tukey's test (B), Welch's ANOVA followed by Dunnett's T3 test (D) and Kruskal–Wallis test followed by Dunn's test (F). CM coc = conditioned medium from 24 h hBLECs and hBPs coculture, A = astrocytes, hBP mono = 24 h hBPs monoculture. Scale bar = 750 µm. BBB, blood–brain barrier; ECGMV2, EC Growth Medium MV 2; ECs, endothelial cells; hBLECs, human brain‐like endothelial cells; ns, non‐significant; hBPs, human brain pericytes; TNBC, triple‐negative breast cancer. **** p ≤ 0.0001; * p ≤ 0.05.
Article Snippet: Differentiated ECs were cultured in 100‐mm Petri dishes (Corning) coated with gelatin (Sigma‐Aldrich), in EC growth medium MV 2 (ECGMV2 + Supplement mix C‐39226, PromoCell) and gentamicin (50 μg/ml; Biowest). hBPs (female) were provided by Dr. Fumitaka Shimizu and Pr.
Techniques: Inhibition, Cell Adhesion Assay, Cell Culture, Co-Culture Assay, Incubation