title: Utilizing a high-throughput microfluidic platform to study hypoxia-driven mesenchymal-mode cell migration.
abstract: Hypoxia is a critical microenvironment in tumor pathogenesis. There is a close relationship between hypoxia, tumor metastasis and poor prognosis. Hypoxia has been shown to induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition and high levels of lactic acid production, through which cancer cells gain migratory capability. Here, we present a high-throughput microfluidic platform with a controlled oxygen environment to specifically monitor mesenchymal migration under hypoxic conditions. We found that, combined with a slightly alkaline microenvironment, such a platform can help to improve the efficiency of antimetastatic drugs. We also use this platform to study primary and rare cells from mice and demonstrate the correlation between on-chip results and in vivo outcome. This device may provide a new opportunity for biologists and clinicians to better perform assays that evaluate cancer cell behaviors related to metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nanomedicine, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA. LQin@houstonmethodist.org lzhou@houstonmethodist.org.
authors.forename: Yuanqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jianguo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Ledu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Lidong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D015687:Cell Hypoxia / Q000502:physiology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition / Q000502:physiology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays / Q000295:instrumentation; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D056656:Lab-On-A-Chip Devices; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment / Q000502:physiology; D023041:Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays / Q000295:instrumentation