Elastic Free Energy Drives the Shape of Prevascular Solid Tumors

It is well established that the mechanical environment influences cell functions in health and disease. Here, we address how the mechanical environment influences tumor growth, in particular, the shape of solid tumors. In an in vitro tumor model, which isolates mechanical interactions between cancer tumor cells and a hydrogel, we find that tumors grow as ellipsoids, resembling the same, oft-reported observation of in vivo tumors. Specifically, an oblate ellipsoidal tumor shape robustly occurs when the tumors grow in hydrogels that are stiffer than the tumors, but when they grow in more compliant hydrogels they remain closer to spherical in shape. Using large scale, nonlinear elasticity computations we show that the oblate ellipsoidal shape minimizes the elastic free energy of the tumor-hydrogel system. Having eliminated a number of other candidate explanations, we hypothesize that minimization of the elastic free energy is the reason for predominance of the experimentally observed ellipsoidal shape. This result may hold significance for explaining the shape progression of early solid tumors in vivo and is an important step in understanding the processes underlying solid tumor growth.     

A hypo-osmotic medium to disaggregate tumor cell clumps into viable and clonogenic single cells for the human tumor stem cell clonogenic assay

A hypo-osmolar medium and tissue processing technique is described which is useful for disaggregation of residual human tumor cell clumps persisting after mechanical or enzymatic treatment of solid tumors and malignant effusions. The addition of the hypo-osmolar procedure to the standard methods for disaggregation increased the viable single cell yield in solid tumors by 47% and in malignant effusions by 67%. In 5 of the 26 solid tumor specimens tested in the human tumor stem cell assay, clonogenic single cells were obtained with the hypo-osmolar procedure, whereas no growth was observed using standard methods. Overall, the success rate for clonogenicity increased from 46% to 65% for the 26 solid tumors, with the major improvement occurring in ovarian cancer. Clonogenicity was obtained in 80% of malignant effusions both by standard methods and the hypo-osmolar techniques. The increased total yield of clonogenic cells obtained with this procedure enhances the opportunity for experimental versatility and in vitro drug testing.     

Role of Constitutive Behavior and Tumor-Host Mechanical Interactions in the State of Stress and Growth of Solid Tumors

Mechanical forces play a crucial role in tumor patho-physiology. Compression of cancer cells inhibits their proliferation rate, induces apoptosis and enhances their invasive and metastatic potential. Additionally, compression of intratumor blood vessels reduces the supply of oxygen, nutrients and drugs, affecting tumor progression and treatment. Despite the great importance of the mechanical microenvironment to the pathology of cancer, there are limited studies for the constitutive modeling and the mechanical properties of tumors and on how these parameters affect tumor growth. Also, the contribution of the host tissue to the growth and state of stress of the tumor remains unclear. To this end, we performed unconfined compression experiments in two tumor types and found that the experimental stress-strain response is better fitted to an exponential constitutive equation compared to the widely used neo-Hookean and Blatz-Ko models. Subsequently, we incorporated the constitutive equations along with the corresponding values of the mechanical properties - calculated by the fit - to a biomechanical model of tumor growth. Interestingly, we found that the evolution of stress and the growth rate of the tumor are independent from the selection of the constitutive equation, but depend strongly on the mechanical interactions with the surrounding host tissue. Particularly, model predictions - in agreement with experimental studies - suggest that the stiffness of solid tumors should exceed a critical value compared with that of the surrounding tissue in order to be able to displace the tissue and grow in size. With the use of the model, we estimated this critical value to be on the order of 1.5. Our results suggest that the direct effect of solid stress on tumor growth involves not only the inhibitory effect of stress on cancer cell proliferation and the induction of apoptosis, but also the resistance of the surrounding tissue to tumor expansion.     

Evolution of osmotic pressure in solid tumors

The mechanical microenvironment of solid tumors includes both fluid and solid stresses. These stresses play a crucial role in cancer progression and treatment and have been analyzed rigorously both mathematically and experimentally. The magnitude and spatial distribution of osmotic pressures in tumors, however, cannot be measured experimentally and to our knowledge there is no mathematical model to calculate osmotic pressures in the tumor interstitial space. In this study, we developed a triphasic biomechanical model of tumor growth taking into account not only the solid and fluid phase of a tumor, but also the transport of cations and anions, as well as the fixed charges at the surface of the glycosaminoglycan chains. Our model predicts that the osmotic pressure is negligible compared to the interstitial fluid pressure for values of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) taken from the literature for sarcomas, melanomas and adenocarcinomas. Furthermore, our results suggest that an increase in the hydraulic conductivity of the tumor, increases considerably the intratumoral concentration of free ions and thus, the osmotic pressure but it does not reach the levels of the interstitial fluid pressure.     

Micro-Environmental Mechanical Stress Controls Tumor Spheroid Size and Morphology by Suppressing Proliferation and Inducing Apoptosis in Cancer Cells

Background

Compressive mechanical stress produced during growth in a confining matrix limits the size of tumor spheroids, but little is known about the dynamics of stress accumulation, how the stress affects cancer cell phenotype, or the molecular pathways involved.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We co-embedded single cancer cells with fluorescent micro-beads in agarose gels and, using confocal microscopy, recorded the 3D distribution of micro-beads surrounding growing spheroids. The change in micro-bead density was then converted to strain in the gel, from which we estimated the spatial distribution of compressive stress around the spheroids. We found a strong correlation between the peri-spheroid solid stress distribution and spheroid shape, a result of the suppression of cell proliferation and induction of apoptotic cell death in regions of high mechanical stress. By compressing spheroids consisting of cancer cells overexpressing anti-apoptotic genes, we demonstrate that mechanical stress-induced apoptosis occurs via the mitochondrial pathway.

Conclusions/Significance

Our results provide detailed, quantitative insight into the role of micro-environmental mechanical stress in tumor spheroid growth dynamics, and suggest how tumors grow in confined locations where the level of solid stress becomes high. An important implication is that apoptosis via the mitochondrial pathway, induced by compressive stress, may be involved in tumor dormancy, in which tumor growth is held in check by a balance of apoptosis and proliferation.     

PD-L1 and Survival in Solid Tumors: A Meta-Analysis

Background

Numerous agents targeting PD-L1/PD-1 check-point are in clinical development. However, the correlation between PD-L1expression and prognosis of solid tumor is still in controversial. Here, we elicit a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the potential value of PD-L1 in the prognostic prediction in human solid tumors.

Methods

Electronic databases were searched for studies evaluating the expression of PD-L1 and overall survival (OS) of patients with solid tumors. Odds ratios (ORs) from individual studies were calculated and pooled by using a random-effect model, and heterogeneity and publication bias analyses were also performed.

Results

A total of 3107 patients with solid tumor from 28 published studies were included in the meta-analysis. The median percentage of solid tumors with PD-L1 overexpression was 52.5%. PD-L1 overexpression was associated with worse OS at both 3 years (OR = 2.43, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.60 to 3.70, P < 0.0001) and 5 years (OR = 2.23, 95% CI = 1.40 to 3.55, P = 0.0008) of solid tumors. Among the tumor types, PD-L1 was associated with worse 3 year-OS of esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, and urothelial cancer, and 5 year-OS of esophageal cancer, gastric cancer and colorectal cancer.

Conclusions

These results suggest that expression of PD-L1 is associated with worse survival in solid tumors. However, the correlations between PD-L1 and prognosis are variant among different tumor types. More studies are needed to investigate the clinical value of PD-L1 expression in prognostic prediction and treatment option.     

Priming cancer cells for drug resistance: role of the fibroblast niche

Conventional and targeted chemotherapies remain integral strategies to treat solid tumors. Despite the large number of anti-cancer drugs available, chemotherapy does not completely eradicate disease. Disease recurrence and the growth of drug resistant tumors remain significant problems in anti-cancer treatment. To develop more effective treatment strategies, it is important to understand the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of drug resistance. It is generally accepted that cancer cells do not function alone, but evolve through interactions with the surrounding tumor microenvironment. As key cellular components of the tumor microenvironment, fibroblasts regulate the growth and progression of many solid tumors. Emerging studies demonstrate that fibroblasts secrete a multitude of factors that enable cancer cells to become drug resistant. This review will explore how fibroblast secretion of soluble factors act on cancer cells to enhance cancer cell survival and cancer stem cell renewal, contributing to the development of drug resistant cancer.     

Why imatinib remains an exception of cancer research

The archetype driving the drug targeting approach to cancer therapy is the success of imatinib against chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML‐CP). Molecular targeting success of this magnitude has yet to be repeated for most solid tumors. To answer why imatinib remains an exception of cancer research, we summarize key features and patterns of evolution that contrast CML‐CP from prostate cancer, an example of a solid tumor that also shares a signature fusion gene. Distinctive properties of CML‐CP include: a large cell population size that is not geographically constrained, a highly penetrant dominant oncogene that sweeps the entire cell population, subsequent progressive and ordered clonal genetic changes, and the effectiveness of molecular targeting within the chronic phase, which is comparable to the benign phase of solid tumors. CML‐CP progression resembles a clonal, stepwise model of evolution, whereas the pattern of solid tumor evolution is highly dynamic and stochastic. The distinguishing features and evolutionary pattern of CML‐CP support why the success of imatinib does not carry over to most solid tumors. Changing the focus of cancer research from a gene‐based view to a genome‐based theory will provide insight into solid tumor evolutionary dynamics. J. Cell. Physiol. 228: 665–670, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

In vivo analysis of fracture toughness of thyroid gland tumors

Background

Human solid tumors that are hard or firm on physical palpation are likely to be cancerous, a clinical maxim that has been successfully applied to cancer screening programs, such as breast self-examination. However, the biological relevance or prognostic significance of tumor hardness remains poorly understood. Here we present a fracture mechanics based in vivo approach for characterizing the fracture toughness of biological tissue of human thyroid gland tumors.

Methods

In a prospective study, 609 solid thyroid gland tumors were percutaneously probed using standard 25 gauge fine needles, their tissue toughness ranked on the basis of the nature and strength of the haptic force feedback cues, and subjected to standard fine needle biopsy. The tumors' toughness rankings and final cytological diagnoses were combined and analyzed. The interpreting cytopathologist was blinded to the tumors' toughness rankings.

Results

Our data showed that cancerous and noncancerous tumors displayed remarkable haptically distinguishable differences in their material toughness.

Conclusion

The qualitative method described here, though subject to some operator bias, identifies a previously unreported in vivo approach to classify fracture toughness of a solid tumor that can be correlated with malignancy, and paves the way for the development of a mechanical device that can accurately quantify the tissue toughness of a human tumor.     

多尺度的光声显微镜用于癌细胞及实体瘤成像

多尺度显微成像系统(M-PAM)被发展,并被用于成像从癌细胞到实体肿瘤的多尺度生物结构.该装置由二维运动平台,扫描振镜,物镜,聚焦超声换能器组成,其横向分辨率达到3 μm.结果显示该系统可以对体外培养黑色素瘤细胞与体内的黑色素瘤进行无标记成像.基于具有靶向性的探针,M-PAM系统可以对体外培养的U87-MG肿瘤细胞以及体内U87-MG实体肿瘤进行成像.综上所述,M-PAM系统将是研究肿瘤的有力工具.     

CAR-T cell therapy and its application in clinical cancer treatment

Immunotherapy is regarded as the most significant method for cancer treatment in recent years. Chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T) technology, one form of target immunotherapy, has made a great breakthrough in hematological malignancies treatment and also a few progress in solid tumor treatment. This article reviews the history and mechanism of CAR-T, as well as the advantages and limitations of CAR-T in clinical cancer treatment. Then the review mainly discussed the clinical trial progress of CAR-T cell therapy in solid tumor treatment. A primary obstacle of CAR-T therapy is the heterogeneity in solid tumors. With an increasing number of solid tumor surface antigens being discovered, different varieties of CARs have been designed to treat solid tumors and have made some progress in clinical trial. In the end, this review puts forward a possible development direction of CAR-T.     

Engineering tumor stromal mechanics for improved T cell therapy

Adoptive cellular therapies (ACT), including the engineered T cell receptor (TCR) therapy and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T Cell Therapy, are currently at the forefront of cancer immunotherapy. However, their efficacy for the treatment of solid tumors has not been confirmed. The fibrotic stroma surrounding the solid tumor has been suggested as the main barrier in the disarmament and suppression of the engineered T cells. In this review, we will discuss the recent findings on the mechanism of T cell suppression by the tumor stroma with a special emphasis on the effect of stromal mechanics. We will also discuss the engineering approaches used to dissect the mechanism of the T cell suppression by the stromal mechanical factors. Finally, we will provide a future outlook on the strategies to improve the efficacy of T cell therapy through altering the tumor stromal fibrosis.     

二甲基亚砜诱导人食管癌细胞分化的实验研究

The fact that treatment of leukemia (Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia) with ATRA (All-Trans Retinoic Acid) was so succeeded that it was considered as a good example for tumor therapy. In the treatment of solid tumors by means of induced differentiation, however, has not been yet so broken-through. DMSO (Dimethylsulfoxide) was a common and simple organic compound, which comprised a variety of biological activities. For example, DMSO induced differentiation of leukemia in many reports. However, the effect of DMSO on solid tumors was to be explored further. In the present study, DMSO was used to human esophageal cancer cell lines in vitro in comparison with the classical inducer ATRA. From the view of morphology, cell cycle, growth inhibition, cytokeratin 4 expression, dye transfer and tumorigenecity, the results demonstrated that DMSO as well as ATRA could induce differentiation of human esophageal cancer cells. Interestingly, DMSO was confirmed to be more effective in inducing differentiation of esophageal cancer cells than ATRA. It suggests that DMSO showed some good prospects for the treatment of solid tumors.     

二甲基亚砜诱导人食管癌细胞分化的实验研究

维甲酸诱导分化治疗白血病取得巨大成功,为治疗肿瘤开辟了新思路,但诱导分化治疗实体瘤目前尚无突破性进展。二甲基亚砜有多种生物学作用如诱导白血病细胞分化,对实体瘤细胞的作用研究却不多。本文将二甲基亚砜试用于体外培养的人食管癌细胞株,同时设维甲酸作参照,从形态和细胞周期改变、角蛋白表达及成瘤性等多方面证实二甲基亚砜和维甲酸一样可诱导食管癌细胞分化,并且发现二甲基亚砜的作用优于维甲酸,强烈提示二甲基亚砜对实体瘤治疗的可能应用前景。     

Chromosome-mediated alterations of the MYC gene in human cancer

The step-wise accumulation of genetic and epigenetic alterations in cancer development includes chromosome rearrangements and viral integration-mediated genetic alterations that frequently involve proto-oncogenes. Protooncogenes deregulation lead to unlimited, self-sufficient cell growth and ultimately generates invasive and destructive tumors. C-MYC gene, the cellular homologue of the avian myelocitic leukemia virus, is implicated in a large number of human solid tumors, leukemias and lymphomas as well as in a variety of animal neoplasias. Deregulated MYC expression is a common denominator in cancer. Chromosomal rearrangements and integration of oncogenic viruses frequently target MYC locus, causing structural or functional alterations of the gene. In this article, we illustrate how genomic rearrangements and viruses integration affect MYC locus in certain human lymphomas and solid tumors.     

Dendritic Cell-Based Immunotherapy for Solid Tumors

As a treatment for solid tumors, dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapy has not been as effective as expected. Here, we review the reasons underlying the limitations of DC-based immunotherapy for solid tumors and ask what can be done to improve immune cell-based cancer therapies. Several reports show that, rather than a lack of immune induction, the limited efficacy of DC-based immunotherapy in cases of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) likely results from inhibition of immune responses by tumor-secreted TGF-β and an increase in the number of regulatory T (Treg) cells in and around the solid tumor. Indeed, unlike DC therapy for solid tumors, cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses induced by DC therapy inhibit tumor recurrence after surgery; CTL responses also limit tumor metastasis induced by additional tumor-challenge in RCC tumor-bearing mice. Here, we discuss the mechanisms underlying the poor efficacy of DC-based therapy for solid tumors and stress the need for new and improved DC immunotherapies and/or combination therapies with killer cells to treat resistant solid tumors.     

An overview of the role of cancer stem cells in spine tumors with a special focus on chordoma简

Primary malignant tumors of the spine are relatively rare, less than 5% of all spinal column tumors. However, these lesions are often among the most difficult to treat and encompass challenging pathologies such as chordoma and a variety of invasive sarcomas. The mechanisms of tumor recurrence after surgical intervention, as well as resistance to radiation and chemotherapy, remain a pervasive and costly problem. Recent evidence has emerged supporting the hypothesis that solid tumors contain a sub-population of cancer cells that possess characteristics normally associated with stem cells. Particularly, the potential for long-term proliferation appears to be restricted to subpopulations of cancer stem cells (CSCs) functionally defined by their capacity to self-renew and give rise to differentiated cells that phenotypically recapitulate the original tumor, thereby causing relapse and patient death. These cancer stem cells present a unique opportunity to better understand the biology of solid tumors in general, as well as targets for future therapeutics. The general objective of the current study is to discuss the fundamental concepts for understanding the role of CSCs with respect to chemoresistance, radioresistance, special cell surface markers, cancer recurrence and metastasis in tumors of the osseous spine. This discussion is followed by a specific review of what is known about the role of CSCs in chordoma, the most common primary malignant osseous tumor of the spine.     

Recent advances in cancer stem cells

The theory of cancer stem cells states that a subset of cancer cells within a tumor has the ability to self-renew and differentiate. Only those cells within a tumor that have these two properties are called cancer stem cells. This concept was first demonstrated in the study of leukemia where only cells with specific surface antigen profiles were able to cause leukemia when engrafted into immunodeficient mice. In recent years solid tumors were studied utilizing similar techniques in mice. Human tumors where evidence of cancer stem cells has been published include tumors of the breast, brain, pancreas, head and neck, and colon. If this difference in tumorigenicity of cancer cells also occurs in patients, then the ability to enrich for cancer stem cells lays an important groundwork for future studies where mechanisms involved in cancer stem cells can now be investigated.     

Prognostic role and therapeutic susceptibility of cathepsin in various types of solid tumor and leukemia: A systematic review

Cathepsins (CTSs) are multifunctional proteins that can play prominent roles in cancer progression and metastasis. In this systematic review, we compared the prognosis of CTS subtypes overexpression in leukemia and solid tumors, and investigated the effect of different factors on CTS prognosis. We systematically searched published articles indexed in PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane library, ISI Web of Science, and EmBase databases from February 2000 until January 2020. Among the selected leukemia and solid tumors studies, overexpression of CTS subtypes in newly diagnosed and treated patients were with poor prognosis in 43 studies (79.6%) and with good prognosis in 9 studies (16.6%). However, there were 2 studies (3.8%) with either good or poor prognosis, depending on conditions and caner stage and host cell. The relation between CTS and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) in leukemia and solid tumors was mentioned in 7 studies (13%). Overexpression of CTS subtypes in all new case patients had contributed to the induction of poor prognosis. It seems that CTS subtypes, based on the type of cancer and its stage, the type of host cells, and the probable relation with HLA, breed good or poor prognosis in patients with cancer. Therefore, monitoring the overexpression of CTS subtypes and determining the effect of each of these factors on CTS prognosis could be helpful in predicting cancer prognosis both in newly diagnosed or under treatment patients. They could also be useful in finding ways for improving the efficiency of contemporary therapeutic strategies in various types of leukemia and solid tumors.     

An overview of the role of cancer stem cells in spine tumors with a special focus on chordoma

Primary malignant tumors of the spine are relatively rare, less than 5% of all spinal column tumors. However, these lesions are often among the most difficult to treat and encompass challenging pathologies such as chordoma and a variety of invasive sarcomas. The mechanisms of tumor recurrence after surgical intervention, as well as resistance to radiation and chemotherapy, remain a pervasive and costly problem. Recent evidence has emerged supporting the hypothesis that solid tumors contain a sub-population of cancer cells that possess characteristics normally associated with stem cells. Particularly, the potential for long-term proliferation appears to be restricted to subpopulations of cancer stem cells(CSCs) functionally defined by their capacity to self-renew and give rise to differentiated cells that phenotypically recapitulate the original tumor, thereby causing relapse and patient death. These cancer stem cells present a unique opportunity to better understand the biology of solid tumors in general, as well as targets for future therapeutics. The general objective of the current study is to discuss the fundamental concepts for understanding the role of CSCs with respect to chemoresistance, radioresistance, special cell surface markers, cancer recurrence and metastasis intumors of the osseous spine. This discussion is followed by a specific review of what is known about the role of CSCs in chordoma, the most common primary malignant osseous tumor of the spine.