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Multiphoton tomography visualizes collagen fibers in the tumor microenvironment that maintain cancer‐cell anchorage and shape
Author(s) -
Uchugonova Aisada,
Zhao Ming,
Weinigel Martin,
Zhang Yong,
Bouvet Michael,
Hoffman Robert M.,
König Karsten
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of cellular biochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.028
H-Index - 165
eISSN - 1097-4644
pISSN - 0730-2312
DOI - 10.1002/jcb.24305
Subject(s) - cancer cell , stromal cell , fibril , second harmonic generation , biophysics , two photon excitation microscopy , collagen fibril , tumor microenvironment , scaffold , in vivo , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , materials science , cancer , fluorescence , biomedical engineering , pathology , optics , biology , medicine , laser , physics
Abstract Second harmonic generation (SHG) multiphoton imaging can visualize fibrillar collagen in tissues. SHG has previously shown that fibrillar collagen is altered in various types of cancer. In the present study, in vivo high resolution SHG multi‐photon tomography in living mice was used to study the relationship between cancer cells and intratumor collagen fibrils. Using green fluorescent protein (GFP) to visualize cancer cells and SHG to image collagen, we demonstrated that collagen fibrils provide a scaffold for cancer cells to align themselves and acquire optimal shape. These results suggest a new paradigm for a stromal element of tumors: their role in maintaining anchorage and shape of cancer cells that may enable them to proliferate. J. Cell. Biochem. 114: 99–102, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.