Methods to Study the Role of Mechanical Signals in the Induction of Cancer Stem Cells

Overview

Journal Methods Mol Biol

Specialty Molecular Biology

Date 2024 Mar 13

PMID 38478344

Authors

Alessandro Gandin

Paolo Contessotto

Tito Panciera

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Microenvironmental mechanical signals are fundamental regulators of cell behavior both in physiological and in pathological context, particularly in the induction and maintenance of tumorigenic properties. It is thus of utmost importance to experimentally recreate conditions that mimic the physical attributes of real tissues to study their impact on cell behavior and in particular on the induction of cancer stem cell (CSC) properties. Here we present protocols to investigate the role of mechanical stiffness on reprogramming of primary mammary gland cells into CSCs, including the synthesis of hydrogel substrates of the desired stiffness, the isolation and culture of primary differentiated normal cells derived from the human mammary gland, and the assessment of their CSC attributes after oncogene-mediated transformation.

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