Progesterone receptor expression contributes to gemcitabine resistance at higher ECM stiffness in breast cancer cell lines.

Chemoresistance poses a great barrier to breast cancer treatment and is thought to correlate with increased matrix stiffness. We developed two-dimensional (2D) polyacrylamide (PAA) and three-dimensional (3D) alginate in vitro models of tissue stiffness that mimic the stiffness of normal breast and b...

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Main Authors: Emma Grant, Fatma A Bucklain, Lucy Ginn, Peter Laity, Barbara Ciani, Helen E Bryant
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2022-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0268300&type=printable
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author Emma Grant
Fatma A Bucklain
Lucy Ginn
Peter Laity
Barbara Ciani
Helen E Bryant
author_facet Emma Grant
Fatma A Bucklain
Lucy Ginn
Peter Laity
Barbara Ciani
Helen E Bryant
author_sort Emma Grant
collection DOAJ
description Chemoresistance poses a great barrier to breast cancer treatment and is thought to correlate with increased matrix stiffness. We developed two-dimensional (2D) polyacrylamide (PAA) and three-dimensional (3D) alginate in vitro models of tissue stiffness that mimic the stiffness of normal breast and breast cancer. We then used these to compare cell viability in response to chemotherapeutic treatment. In both 2D and 3D we observed that breast cancer cell growth and size was increased at a higher stiffness corresponding to tumours compared to normal tissue. When chemotherapeutic response was measured, a specific differential response in cell viability was observed for gemcitabine in 2 of the 7 breast cancer cell lines investigated. MCF7 and T-47D cell lines showed gemcitabine resistance at 4 kPa compared to 500 Pa. These cell lines share a common phenotype of progesterone receptor (PGR) expression and, indeed, pre-treatment with the selective progesterone receptor modulator (SPRM) mifepristone abolished resistance to gemcitabine at high stiffness. Our data reveals that combined treatment with SPRMs may therefore help in reducing resistance to gemcitabine in stiffer breast tumours which are PGR positive.
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spelling doaj-art-eda66da8f4c74a25a7443d5701b3abd42025-08-20T02:22:25ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-01175e026830010.1371/journal.pone.0268300Progesterone receptor expression contributes to gemcitabine resistance at higher ECM stiffness in breast cancer cell lines.Emma GrantFatma A BucklainLucy GinnPeter LaityBarbara CianiHelen E BryantChemoresistance poses a great barrier to breast cancer treatment and is thought to correlate with increased matrix stiffness. We developed two-dimensional (2D) polyacrylamide (PAA) and three-dimensional (3D) alginate in vitro models of tissue stiffness that mimic the stiffness of normal breast and breast cancer. We then used these to compare cell viability in response to chemotherapeutic treatment. In both 2D and 3D we observed that breast cancer cell growth and size was increased at a higher stiffness corresponding to tumours compared to normal tissue. When chemotherapeutic response was measured, a specific differential response in cell viability was observed for gemcitabine in 2 of the 7 breast cancer cell lines investigated. MCF7 and T-47D cell lines showed gemcitabine resistance at 4 kPa compared to 500 Pa. These cell lines share a common phenotype of progesterone receptor (PGR) expression and, indeed, pre-treatment with the selective progesterone receptor modulator (SPRM) mifepristone abolished resistance to gemcitabine at high stiffness. Our data reveals that combined treatment with SPRMs may therefore help in reducing resistance to gemcitabine in stiffer breast tumours which are PGR positive.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0268300&type=printable
spellingShingle Emma Grant
Fatma A Bucklain
Lucy Ginn
Peter Laity
Barbara Ciani
Helen E Bryant
Progesterone receptor expression contributes to gemcitabine resistance at higher ECM stiffness in breast cancer cell lines.
PLoS ONE
title Progesterone receptor expression contributes to gemcitabine resistance at higher ECM stiffness in breast cancer cell lines.
title_full Progesterone receptor expression contributes to gemcitabine resistance at higher ECM stiffness in breast cancer cell lines.
title_fullStr Progesterone receptor expression contributes to gemcitabine resistance at higher ECM stiffness in breast cancer cell lines.
title_full_unstemmed Progesterone receptor expression contributes to gemcitabine resistance at higher ECM stiffness in breast cancer cell lines.
title_short Progesterone receptor expression contributes to gemcitabine resistance at higher ECM stiffness in breast cancer cell lines.
title_sort progesterone receptor expression contributes to gemcitabine resistance at higher ecm stiffness in breast cancer cell lines
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0268300&type=printable
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AT fatmaabucklain progesteronereceptorexpressioncontributestogemcitabineresistanceathigherecmstiffnessinbreastcancercelllines
AT lucyginn progesteronereceptorexpressioncontributestogemcitabineresistanceathigherecmstiffnessinbreastcancercelllines
AT peterlaity progesteronereceptorexpressioncontributestogemcitabineresistanceathigherecmstiffnessinbreastcancercelllines
AT barbaraciani progesteronereceptorexpressioncontributestogemcitabineresistanceathigherecmstiffnessinbreastcancercelllines
AT helenebryant progesteronereceptorexpressioncontributestogemcitabineresistanceathigherecmstiffnessinbreastcancercelllines