MOLECULAR BASIS OF MICROENVIRONMENTAL CELL CYCLE CONTROL

这个子项目是许多利用资源的研究子项目之一 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目的主要支持 而子项目的主要调查员可能是由其他来源提供的， 包括其它NIH来源。 列出的子项目总成本可能 代表子项目使用的中心基础设施的估计数量， 而不是由NCRR赠款提供给子项目或子项目工作人员的直接资金。 肿瘤生物学中的一个主要未解之谜是肿瘤细胞在体内以可逆方式退出细胞周期的机制。 通过几十年的研究，一个隐含的假设是，营养供应的限制，无论是有限的渗透到细胞团或限制血流到局部区域，创造了一个紧张的微环境，诱导细胞停止其细胞周期的运输。 由于这种机制研究的实验肿瘤的众所周知的局限性，我们使用多细胞肿瘤球体模型的大部分这个项目。 球体非常适合这样的研究，因为它们的微环境和细胞增殖梯度的对称排列，因为我们独特的能力，实验利用这种对称性。 具体来说，我们可以从球体微环境内的已知位置分离完整的活细胞，以详细研究与细胞周期停滞相关的分子变化。 为了在体外系统和体内情况之间提供联系，我们将确定我们提出的机制是否在实际肿瘤中有效。 我们正在追求四个具体目标：1）确定多细胞球体中细胞周期停滞的分子基础; 2）确定相同的分子机制是否在体内肿瘤中起作用; 3）确定诱导球体中细胞周期停滞的微环境信号;以及4）确定辐射和微环境诱导的细胞周期停滞之间的相互作用。 流动分析用于常规DNA含量分析，也用于通过双标记DNA分析技术测定溴脱氧尿苷的摄取。 这些细胞周期数据对于与我们的分子分析进行比较至关重要。 我们也在追求使用荧光标记抗体通过流动测量细胞周期蛋白和细胞周期蛋白依赖性激酶的表达。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. One of the major unsolved mysteries in tumor biology is the mechanism by which tumor cells in vivo exit from the cell cycle in a reversible fashion. An implicit assumption through decades of research is that limitations of nutrient supply, either by limited penetration into the cell mass or restricted blood flow to local regions, create a stressful microenvironment which induces cells to arrest their cell cycle transit. Due to well-known limitations of experimental tumors for such mechanistic studies, we are using the multicellular tumor spheroid model for the majority of this project. Spheroids are ideally suited for such studies, both because of their symmetrical arrangement of microenvironmental and cellular proliferation gradients, and because of our unique ability to experimentally exploit this symmetry. Specifically, we can isolate intact, viable cells from known locations within the spheroid microenvironment for detailed study of the molecular changes associated with cell cycle arrest. In order to provide a link between this in vitro system and the in vivo situation we will determine whether our proposed mechanism is operative in actual tumors. We are pursuing four Specific Aims: 1) to determine the molecular basis for cell cycle arrest in multicellular spheroids; 2) to determine if the same molecular mechanisms are operative in tumors in vivo; 3) to identify the microenvironmental signal(s) which induce cell cycle arrest in spheroids; and 4) to determine the interaction between radiation- and microenvironmentally-induced cell cycle arrest. Flow analysis is used both for routine DNA content analysis, and also for determining the uptake of bromodeoxyuridine by means of a dual-label DNA analysis technique. These cell cycle data are critical for comparison with our molecular analysis. We are also pursuing the measurement of cyclin and cyclin-dependent kinase expression by flow using fluorescently-tagged antibodies.