Fluorescent mouse pheochromocytoma spheroids expressing hypoxia-inducible factor 2 alpha: Morphologic and radiopharmacologic characterization
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGLs) are rare catecholamine-producing tumors arising from chromaffin tissue. In a PPGL subgroup, dysregulation of hypoxia signaling pathways, in particular mediated through stabilization of hypoxia-inducible factor 2 alpha (HIF2α), have been suggested to drive tumorigenesis through altering downstream transcriptional activity. OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the use of mCherry-transgenic mouse pheochromocytoma (MPCmCherry) spheroids as in vitro models for investigating consequences of HIF2α expression on aggregation behavior, morphology, growth, glucose consumption, amino acid uptake, and somatostatin type 2 receptors under stable hypoxic conditions. METHODS: MPCmCherry spheroids were monitored using confocal laser scanning microscopy. Hypoxic regions were detected using pimonidazole. Radiotracer incubation was performed using 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxyglucose ([18F]FDG), O-3-(2[18F]fluoroethoxy)-4-hydroxyphenylalanine ([18F]OFED), and [68Ga]Ga-(Tyr3)octreotate ([68Ga]Ga-DOTA-TATE). RESULTS: Both HIF2α-expressing and empty vector (EV) control spheroids showed regions of stable cellular hypoxia. Expression of HIF2α in MPCmCherry spheroids was associated with less symmetric morphology, faster growth, and decreased uptake of [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-TATE (somatostatin type 2 receptors) compared to controls, whereas, uptake of [18F]FDG (glucose transporter 1 and hexokinases) and [18F]OFED (system L amino acid transporter 1) remained unaffected. CONCLUSIONS: The recent study proved MPCmCherry spheroids to be complex three-dimensional tumor cell models for investigating morphologic and metabolic consequences of dysregulated hypoxia pathways under hypoxic conditions.
Details
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 135-151 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Journal of Cellular Biotechnology |
Volume | 5 |
Issue number | 2 |
Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
ORCID | /0000-0002-6932-333X/work/148144945 |
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ORCID | /0000-0002-3549-2477/work/148145336 |
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- Amino acid transporters, confocal laser scanning microscopy, neuroendocrine tumors, paraganglioma, pimonidazole, positron emitters, radiotracer uptake, somatostatin receptors