Abstract 1983: Real-time imaging of exosomes dynamic of cross-talking and cell trafficking in 3D Gelfoam® histoculture

Abstract

Abstract Exosomes are small membrane vesicles (30-100 nm) released by many types of cells during normal physiological processes and are thought to play an important role in cell-to-cell communication to promote tumor metastasis. Exosomes contain diffusible factors, such as cytokines, growth factors and extracellular matrix molecules and also mediate local and systemic cell communication through the horizontal transfer of information, such as mRNAs, microRNAs and proteins. However, the exosome dynamics and trafficking between cancer cells and tumor stromal cells in a metastatic niche are still unclear. In this study, in order to image the movement of cancer cell-derived exosomes, we developed a confocal time lapse imaging system to use green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged CD63, which is a general marker of exosomes, expressed in breast cancer cells cultured on 3-dimentional Gelfoam® histoculture. We demonstrated that 3D Gelfoam® culture enabled imaging of structural cell-to-cell contact between neighboring cells and exosome behavior in real-time. This system makes it possible to monitor real-time exosome dynamics and cross-talking between cancer cells and other cells and to identify the mechanism of exosome release and uptake such as in a metastatic niche. Citation Format: Mako Yamamoto, Shinji Miwa, Yukihiko Hiroshima, Shuya Yano, Fuminari Uehara, Yasunori Matsumoto, Atsushi Suetsugu, Kimi Homma, Robert M. Hoffman. Real-time imaging of exosomes dynamic of cross-talking and cell trafficking in 3D Gelfoam® histoculture. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 1983. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-1983