| Popis: |
Three-dimensional (3D) cell culture platforms better recreate the complex microenvironment and cell-cell signaling gradients characteristic of in vivo tumors than monolayer cultures on plasticware. While in vitro co-culture models of stromal cells and ER(+) carcinoma cells have been developed to study tumor responses, there is a lack of detailed characterization of the expression and activity of aromatase enzyme in mammary fibroblasts in 3D environments. Aromatase converts androgens to estrogen. In this study, I quantify aromatase activity in stromal reductive mammary fibroblasts (RMFs) and estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) transactivation in a breast carcinoma cell line in 2D, 3D, and co-culture platforms. When treated with the aromatase inducers genistein and quercetin, we observed increased E2 synthesis in all culture formats containing RMFs. The 2D monocultures had much higher aromatase activity than 3D monocultures; the greatest increase in activity occurred in the co-cultures. Our results highlight the use of 3D breast cancer models as an improvement over traditional 2D cultures and a useful and efficient alternative to in vivo models. |
