Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) play a critical role in promoting cancer progression. However, it is not clear whether MSCs are located in breast cancer tissues and correlated with tumor proliferation. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of MSCs in breast cancer tissues and evaluate their interactions with cancer cells. We successfully isolated and identified MSCs from primary breast cancer tissues. Breast cancer-associated MSCs (BC-MSCs) showed homogenous immunophenotype, and possessed tri-lineage differentiation potential (osteoblast, adipocyte, and chondrocyte). When co-transplanted with cancer cells in a xenograft model in vivo, BC-MSCs significantly increased the volume and weight of tumors. We observed that BC-MSCs stimulated mammosphere formation in the transwell co-culture system in vitro. This effect was significantly suppressed by the EGF receptor inhibitor. We verified that BC-MSCs could secrete EGF and activate cancer cell's EGF receptors. Furthermore, our data showed that EGF derived from BC-MSCs could promote mammosphere formation via the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Our results confirmed the presence of MSC in primary breast cancer tissues, and they could provide a favorable microenvironment for tumor cell growth in vivo, partially enhance mammosphere formation via the EGF/EGFR/Akt pathway.
Computations were performed to study the three-dimensional flow and heat transfer in a U-shaped duct of square cross section under rotating and non-rotating conditions. The parameters investigated were two rotation numbers (0, 0.24) and smooth versus ribbed walls at a Reynolds number of 25,000, a density ratio of 0.13, and an inlet Mach number of 0.05. Results are presented for streamlines, velocity vector fields, and contours of Mach number, pressure, temperature, and Nusselt numbers. These results show how fluid flow in a U-duct evolves from a unidirectional one to one with convoluted secondary flows because of Coriolis force, centrifugal buoyancy, staggered inclined ribs, and a 180 deg bend. These results also show how the nature of the fluid flow affects surface heat transfer. The computations are based on the ensemble-averaged conservation equations of mass, momentum (compressible Navier-Stokes), and energy closed by the low Reynolds number SST turbulence model. Solutions were generated by a cell-centered finite-volume method that uses second-order flux-difference splitting and a diagonalized alternating-direction implicit scheme with local time stepping and V-cycle multigrid.
A tumor targeting dual stimuli responsive controllable release drug delivery nanoplatform was fabricated for chemo-photothermal synergetic cancer therapy based on DNA-conjugated reduced graphene oxide.
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