The multiple facets of drug resistance: one history, different approaches

Abstract\ud Some cancers like melanoma and pancreatic and ovarian cancers, for example, commonly display resistance to chemotherapy, and this is the major obstacle to a better prognosis of patients. Frequently, literature presents studies in monolayer cell cultures, 3D cell cultures or in vivo studies, but rarely the same work compares results of drug resistance in different models. Several of these works are presented in this review and show that usually cells in 3D culture are more resistant to drugs than monolayer cultured cells due to different mechanisms. Searching for new strategies to sensitize different tumors to chemotherapy, many methods have been studied to understand the mechanisms whereby cancer cells acquire drug resistance. These methods have been strongly advanced along the years and therapies using different drugs have been increasingly proposed to induce cell death in resistant cells of different cancers. Recently, cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been extensively studied because they would be the only cells capable of sustaining tumorigenesis. It is believed that the resistance of CSCs to currently used chemotherapeutics is a major contributing factor in cancer recurrence and later metastasis development. This review aims to appraise the experimental progress in the study of acquired drug resistance of cancer cells in different models as well as to understand the role of CSCs as the major contributing factor in cancer recurrence and metastasis development, describing how CSCs can be identified and isolated.We thank Roberdo Cabado for helping with the Figure 1 final art. The works\ud of our laboratory are supported by FAPESP, CNPq and CAPES

Prospection of bioative molecules in Amphimedon viridis sea sponges species: cell and molecular studies.

A análise química do extrato bruto de esponja marinha é um método clássico de descoberta de novas drogas. Metabólitos secundários e peptídeos são geralmente os resultados neste tipo de pesquisa, utilizando diferentes e consecutivos protocolos de purificação. Neste estudo de uma amostra de extrato aquoso esponja separada numa coluna Sephadex®-G25 foi purificado por HPLC, numa tentativa de isolar uma única molécula. Com uma base de dados de RNA e a análise in silico espera-se que o RNAm pode ser relacionado com a molécula precursora do composto bioativo ou mesmo o seu gene. A dissociação de células a partir da matriz da esponja é um método importante para a extração de RNA optimizado em quantidade e qualidade. Frações extrato bruto do organismo e dados de RNAm a partir de células isoladas da esponja podem ser comparados por uma abordagem de comparação dos dados. Ensaios de MTS foram utilizados para analisar a bioatividade e microscopia confocal foi a principal ferramenta para examinar os danos em células tumorais (T47D).The chemical analysis of sea sponge crude extract is a classic method in drug discovery. Secondary metabolites and peptides are usually the results in this type of research using different and consecutives purification protocols. In this study a sample of sponge aqueous extract separated in a sephadex-G25 column was purified by HPLC in an attempt to isolate a single molecule. With a RNA databank and in silico analysis is expected that the mRNA may be related with the precursor molecule of the bioactive compound or even its gene. The dissociation of cells from the sponge matrix was an important method to the optimized RNA extraction in quantity and quality. Crude extract fractions of the organism and mRNA data from sponge-isolated cells were obtained to a next step cross-data approach. MTS assays were used to analyze the bioactivity and confocal microscopy was the main tool to scan the damage in tumor cells (T47D)

Cell death and lumen formation in spheroids of MCF-7 cells

3D (three-dimensional) cell culture permits a more integrated analysis of the relationship between cells, inserting them into a structure more closely resembling the cellular microenvironment in vivo. The development of in vitro parameters to approximate in vivo 3D cellular environments makes a less reductionist interpretation of cell biology possible. For breast cells, in vitro 3D culture has proven to be an important tool for the analysis of luminal morphogenesis. A greater understanding of this process is necessary because alterations in the lumen arrangement are associated with carcinogenesis. Following lumen formation in 3D cell culture using laser scanning confocal microscopy, we observed alterations in the arrangement of cytoskeletal components (F-actin and microtubules) and increasing levels of cell death associated with lumen formation. The formation of a polarized monolayer facing the lumen was characterized through 3D reconstructions and the use of TEM (transmission electron microscopy), and this process was found to occur through the gradual clearing of cells from the medullary region of the spheroids. This process was associated with different types of cell death, such as apoptosis, autophagy and entosis. The present study showed that changes in the extracellular matrix associated with long periods of time in 3D cell culture lead to the formation of a lumen in MCF-7 cell spheroids and that features of differentiation such as lumen and budding formation occur after long periods in 3D culture, even in the absence of exogenous extracellular compounds.FAPESP (Fundacao de Amparoa Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo)[06/01026-0]Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico)Capes (Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Secretaria da Educacao do Estado de Sao PauloSecretaria da Educacao do Estado de Sao Paul