Summary

Ex vivo Levende Imaging av Lung Metastase og deres mikromiljøet

Published: February 03, 2016
doi:

Summary

Vi beskriver en forholdsvis enkel fremgangsmåte for ex vivo levende avbildning av tumorcelle-stromaceller interaksjoner i lungemetastase, ved å benytte fluorescerende reportere i mus. Ved hjelp av roterende disk konfokal mikroskopi, kan denne teknikken visualisering av levende celler i minst 4 timer, og kan bli tilpasset til å studere andre inflammatoriske lungesykdommer.

Abstract

Metastase er en vesentlig årsak til kreft-relaterte sykelighet og dødelighet. Metastase er en flertrinnsprosess og på grunn av sin kompleksitet, de nøyaktige cellulære og molekylære prosesser som styrer metastatisk spredning og vekst er fortsatt unnvikende. Levende avbildning tillater visualisering av de dynamiske romlige og interaksjoner av celler og deres mikromiljø. Solide svulster ofte metastaserer til lungene. Men den anatomiske plasseringen av lungene er en utfordring for intra bildebehandling. Denne protokollen gir en relativt enkel og rask metode for ex vivo levende avbildning av det dynamiske samspillet mellom kreftceller og deres omkringliggende stroma innen lungemetastaser. Ved hjelp av denne metoden, kan bevegeligheten av kreftceller, så vel som vekselvirkninger mellom kreftceller og stromale celler i deres mikromiljø visualiseres i sann tid i flere timer. Ved hjelp av transgene fluorescerende reporter mus, en fluorescerende cellelinje, injiserbare fluorescensmerketmolekyler og / eller antistoffer, flere komponenter av lungen mikromiljøet kan visualiseres, slik som blodkar og immunceller. Til bilde de ulike celletyper, har en roterende disk konfokalmikroskop som gjør langvarig kontinuerlig avbildning med rask, fire-farge image oppkjøpet blitt brukt. Time-lapse film satt sammen av bilder som er samlet over flere posisjoner og fokusplan viser interaksjoner mellom levende metastatisk og immunceller i minst 4 timer. Denne teknikken kan videre brukes til å teste kjemoterapi eller målrettet terapi. Videre kan denne fremgangsmåte tilpasses for studiet av andre lunge-relaterte patologiske tilstander som kan påvirke lungene mikromiljøet.

Introduction

The deadliest aspect of cancer is metastasis, which accounts for more than 90% of cancer-related morbidity and mortality1. Metastasis is a multistep process and due to its complexity, the exact cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern metastatic dissemination and growth are still elusive. To metastasize, tumor cells in the primary tumor must detach from their neighboring cells and basement membrane, cross through the extracellular matrix, intravasate, travel via blood or lymphatic vessels, extravasate at the secondary site, and finally, survive and establish secondary tumors. In addition to the properties of the tumor cells, the contribution from the microenvironment, which includes the adjacent stroma along with the normal counterparts of the cancer cells, is crucial for the seeding and establishment of metastatic lesions2.

Traditional methods to study metastatic seeding and growth examine static states, as tissues are excised and sectioned for histology. These data only generate a snapshot of this highly dynamic process. Although some useful information can be gained from these studies, the complicated process by which tumor and stromal cells interact during metastatic formation cannot be adequately assessed by these methods. Furthermore, it is not possible to gain insights into tumor or stromal cell migration patterns, which are important in establishing a colony at the distant site. In order to effectively study the metastatic process, it is essential to visualize various interactions between cancer cells and their microenvironment in a continuous manner and at real time.

The lung is a common site for metastases from solid tumors as breast, colorectal, pancreatic cancer, melanoma and sarcoma3. Intravital imaging was previously used to study cell-cell interaction in various primary tumor and metastatic models4,5. Methods of lung imaging in mice, including intravital imaging, lung section imaging, and an ex vivo pulmonary metastasis assay have been published6–9. Intravital imaging of mouse lungs utilizes a thoracic suction window to stabilize the lungs6. This method is used for time-lapse imaging of the lung microcirculation and alveolar spaces. The anatomical location of the lungs poses a challenge to intravital imaging. In order to access the lungs, the chest cavity must be opened which leads to loss of negative pressure and collapsed lungs. This method only allows the visualization of a small part of the lungs and is technically demanding; an unnecessary complication in studies that examine processes that are independent of blood flow. Moreover, this method also requires gating out movement caused by breathing. This is done either by collecting images between breaths or during post image acquisition analyses10. The alternative ex vivo lung section imaging provides stability and depth, and also prepares lung parenchyma for immunostaining7. However, the lengthy sectioning process leads to an extensive delay between the time of animal sacrifice and the start of the imaging session. Moreover, the process of sectioning a mouse lung causes considerable amount of cell death8, thus interfering with the quality and quantity of imaging samples and perhaps needlessly altering tumor-stroma interactions. In order to technically bridge between the methods of intravital imaging and lung section imaging, while exploiting the advantages of the two techniques, a relatively fast and easy method for ex vivo lung imaging was developed. This method was achieved by imaging of non-sectioned whole lung lobes. Using this method, the motility of cancer cells as well as interactions between cancer cells and stromal cells in their microenvironment can be visualized in real time for several hours.

Protocol

Alle prosedyrer beskrevet må utføres i samsvar med retningslinjer og regler for bruk av virveldyr, inkludert forhåndsgodkjenning av den lokale Institutional Animal Care og bruk Committee (IACUC). 1. Generering av lungemetastaser for ex vivo Levende Imaging (transgene eller halevenen Injection) MERK: Lungemetastaser kan genereres ved anvendelse av genetisk modifiserte musemodeller eller ved intravenøs (IV) injeksjon av kreftceller. …

Representative Results

Ved hjelp av roterende disk konfokalmikroskopi, ulike musemodellsystemer og injectables, kan metastatisk mikro visualiseres og spores over tid. Ved hjelp av en MMTV-PyMT; ACTB-ECFP; c-FMS-EGFP trippel transgen musemodell, ulike cellulære komponenter er fluorescensmerket (figur 2A, Movie 1). Den typiske struktur av lunge parenchyma kan visualiseres i CFP kanal, siden alle celler uttrykker ECFP under β-aktin-promoteren. Større / flercellede lungemetastaser er lett løst da dis…

Discussion

Dette manuskriptet beskriver en detaljert metode for ex vivo levende avbildning av lunge metastaser i musemodeller av metastasering. Denne bilde protokollen gir en direkte visualisering av dynamiske og romlige tumorcelle-stroma interaksjoner i lungene mikromiljøet. Det er en relativt enkel og rask fremgangsmåte som gjør det mulig pålitelig avbildning av lungemetastaser i minst 4 timer. Filmer kjøpt fra disse eksperimentene kan brukes til å spore dynamiske prosesser som cellemotilitet og cellulær…

Disclosures

The authors have nothing to disclose.

Acknowledgements

We thank Nguyen H. Nguyen for her technical help and Audrey O’Neill for support with the Zeiss Cell Observer spinning-disk confocal microscope. This work was supported by a Department of Defense postdoctoral fellowship (W81XWH-11-01-0139) and the Weizmann Institute of Science-National Postdoctoral Award Program for Advancing Women in Science (to V.P.).

Materials

MMTV-PyMT/FVB mice Jackson Laboratory 2374 Female mice
ACTB-ECFP/FVB mice UCSF Werb lab Female mice
c-fms-EGFP/FVB mice UCSF Werb lab Female mice
FVB mice Jackson Laboratory 1800 Female mice
GFP+ VO-PyMT cells UCSF Werb lab
70,000 kDa Dextran, rhodamine-conjugated Invitrogen D1818 Dilute to  4mg/ml in 1 x PBS and store at -20  °C. Use 0.4 mg per animal. 
10,000 kDa Dextran, Alexa Fluor 647 conjugated Invitrogen D22914 Dilute to  4mg/ml in 1 x PBS and store at -20  °C. Use 0.4 mg per animal. 
Anti-mouse Gr-1 antibody Alexa Fluor 647 UCSF Monoclonal antibody core Stock 1mg/ml. Use 7 ug per animal.
Anesthetic Anesthesia approved by IACUC, used for anesthesia and/or euthanesia
1X PBS UCSF cell culture facility
PBS, USP sterile  Amresco INC K813-500ML Ultra pure grade for i.v. injection
Styrofoam platform Will be used as dissection board
Fine scissors sharp  Fine Science Tools 14060-11
Forceps Roboz Surgical Store RS-5135
Hot bead sterilizer Fine Science Tools 18000-45 Turn ON 30min before use
Air UCSF
Oxygen UCSF
Carbon dioxide UCSF
1 mL syringe without needle  BD 309659
27 G x 1/2 needle   BD 305109 for i.v. injection
20 G x 1 needle, short bevel   BD 305178
Low-melting-temperature agarose  Lonza 50111 To make 10 ml of solution, weigh 0.2 g of agarose, add to 10 ml 1 x PBS, and heat to dissolve. Agarose will solidify at room temperature, so maintain in a 37 °C water bath until used for inflation.
RPMI-1640 medium without phenol red Life Technologies 11835-030
24 well Imaging plate  E&K scientific EK-42892
Glass cover slides, 15 mm  Fisher Scientific 22-031-144
Digital CO2 and temperature controller Okolab DGTCO2BX http://www.oko-lab.com
Climate chamber Okolab http://www.oko-lab.com
Cell Observer spinning disk confocal microscope Zeiss
Zen software Zeiss
Inverted microscope Carl Zeiss Inc Zeiss Axiovert 200M
ICCD camera Stanford Photonics XR-Mega-10EX S-30
Spinning disk confocal scan-head Yokogawa Corporation CSU-10b
Imaris Bitplane
mManager Vale lab, UCSF Open-source software

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Cite This Article
van den Bijgaart, R. J., Kong, N., Maynard, C., Plaks, V. Ex vivo Live Imaging of Lung Metastasis and Their Microenvironment. J. Vis. Exp. (108), e53741, doi:10.3791/53741 (2016).

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