Introduction Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a precursor lesion of breast cancer. The individual
risk of progression from DCIS to IDC cannot be reliably estimated using clinical parameters.
The role of the tumor microenvironment (including lymphocytes) appears to be critical
in cancer development.
Methods Lymphoblasts (U397) and MCF10DCIS.com cells were co-cultured in a 3D cell culture
system. The lymphoblasts (LB) were cultured in medium over a Matrigel layer containing
MCF10DCIS.com cells and dye-quenched fluorescent collagen to visualize proteolysis.
The co-culture was examined under the confocal microscope to detect possible morphological
differences indicating the transition from an in situ to an invasive phenotype. DCIS
cells were isolated from the co-culture after 5 and 12 days and PCR of proliferation,
invasion/metastasis, anti-apoptosis or other markers was performed.
Results MCF10DCIS.com cells in co-culture with LB form spheroids that appear less round compared
to the control. The reduction of spheroid circularity is statistically significant
(p<0.01). The PCR of the various markers showed no statistically significant difference
in any of the approaches (p<0.05).
Conclusion Lymphoblasts appear to affect the morphology of the DCIS spheroids. However, no statistically
significant difference could be shown in the qPCR of the markers examined. Whether
the morphological differences indicate a higher invasive potential should be further
investigated. Better characterization of the tumor microenvironment could facilitate
the identification of DCIS lesions with a high and low risk of progression, respectively,
and thus enable personalized oncological treatment approaches.
