Structural and functional identification of vasculogenic mimicry in vitro.

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Structural and functional identification of vasculogenic mimicry in vitro.

Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 01;7(1):6985

Authors: Racordon D, Valdivia A, Mingo G, Erices R, Aravena R, Santoro F, Bravo ML, Ramirez C, Gonzalez P, Sandoval A, González A, Retamal C, Kogan MJ, Kato S, Cuello MA, Osorio G, Nualart F, Alvares P, Gago-Arias A, Fabri D, Espinoza I, Sanchez B, Corvalán AH, Pinto MP, Owen GI

Abstract
Vasculogenic mimicry (VM) describes a process by which cancer cells establish an alternative perfusion pathway in an endothelial cell-free manner. Despite its strong correlation with reduced patient survival, controversy still surrounds the existence of an in vitro model of VM. Furthermore, many studies that claim to demonstrate VM fail to provide solid evidence of true hollow channels, raising concerns as to whether actual VM is actually being examined. Herein, we provide a standardized in vitro assay that recreates the formation of functional hollow channels using ovarian cancer cell lines, cancer spheres and primary cultures derived from ovarian cancer ascites. X-ray microtomography 3D-reconstruction, fluorescence confocal microscopy and dye microinjection conclusively confirm the existence of functional glycoprotein-rich lined tubular structures in vitro and demonstrate that many of structures reported in the literature may not represent VM. This assay may be useful to design and test future VM-blocking anticancer therapies.

PMID: 28765613 [PubMed - in process]

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