PubMed İndeksli Yayınlar Koleksiyonu / PubMed Indexed Publications Collection

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11147/7645

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 14
  • Review
    Citation - WoS: 14
    Citation - Scopus: 14
    Recent Advances in Lab-On Systems for Breast Cancer Metastasis Research
    (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2023) Fıratlıgil Yıldırır, Burcu; Yalçın Özuysal, Özden; Nonappa
    Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women. Multiple molecular subtypes, heterogeneity, and their ability to metastasize from the primary site to distant organs make breast cancer challenging to diagnose, treat, and obtain the desired therapeutic outcome. As the clinical importance of metastasis is dramatically increasing, there is a need to develop sustainable in vitro preclinical platforms to investigate complex cellular processes. Traditional in vitro and in vivo models cannot mimic the highly complex and multistep process of metastasis. Rapid progress in micro- and nanofabrication has contributed to soft lithography or three-dimensional printing-based lab-on-a-chip (LOC) systems. LOC platforms, which mimic in vivo conditions, offer a more profound understanding of cellular events and allow novel preclinical models for personalized treatments. Their low cost, scalability, and efficiency have resulted in on-demand design platforms for cell, tissue, and organ-on-a-chip platforms. Such models can overcome the limitations of two- and three-dimensional cell culture models and the ethical challenges involved in animal models. This review provides an overview of breast cancer subtypes, various steps and factors involved in metastases, existing preclinical models, and representative examples of LOC systems used to study and understand breast cancer metastasis and diagnosis and as a platform to evaluate advanced nanomedicine for breast cancer metastasis.
  • Article
    Citation - WoS: 2
    Citation - Scopus: 2
    Plasmonic Functional Assay Platform Determines the Therapeutic Profile of Cancer Cells
    (American Chemical Society, 2023) Çetin, Arif E.; Topkaya, Seda Nur; Yazıcı, Ziya Ata; Yalçın Özuysal, Özden
    Functional assay platforms could identify the biophysicalpropertiesof cells and their therapeutic response to drug treatments. Despitetheir strong ability to assess cellular pathways, functional assaysrequire large tissue samples, long-term cell culture, and bulk measurements.Even though such a drawback is still valid, these limitations didnot hinder the interest in these platforms for their capacity to revealdrug susceptibility. Some of the limitations could be overcome withsingle-cell functional assays by identifying subpopulations usingsmall sample volumes. Along this direction, in this article, we developeda high-throughput plasmonic functional assay platform to identifythe growth profile of cells and their therapeutic profile under therapiesusing mass and growth rate statistics of individual cells. Our technologycould determine populations' growth profiles using the growthrate data of multiple single cells of the same population. Evaluatingspectral variations based on the plasmonic diffraction field intensityimages in real time, we could simultaneously monitor the mass changefor the cells within the field of view of a camera with the capacityof > & SIM;500 cells/h scanning rate. Our technology could determinethe therapeutic profile of cells under cancer drugs within few hours,while the classical techniques require days to show reduction in viabilitydue to antitumor effects. The platform could reveal the heterogeneitywithin the therapeutic profile of populations and determine subpopulationsshowing resistance to drug therapies. As a proof-of-principle demonstration,we studied the growth profile of MCF-7 cells and their therapeuticbehavior to standard-of-care drugs that have antitumor effects asshown in the literature, including difluoromethylornithine (DFMO),5-fluorouracil (5-FU), paclitaxel (PTX), and doxorubicin (Dox). Wesuccessfully demonstrated the resistant behavior of an MCF-7 variantthat could survive in the presence of DFMO. More importantly, we couldprecisely identify synergic and antagonistic effects of drug combinationsbased on the order of use in cancer therapy. Rapidly assessing thetherapeutic profile of cancer cells, our plasmonic functional assayplatform could be used to reveal personalized drug therapies for cancerpatients.
  • Article
    Citation - WoS: 7
    Citation - Scopus: 7
    Connexin 32 Overexpression Increases Proliferation, Reduces Gap Junctional Intercellular Communication, Motility and Epithelial-To Transition in Hs578t Breast Cancer Cells
    (Springer, 2022) Uğur, Deniz; Güngül, Taha Buğra; Yücel, Simge; Özçivici, Engin; Yalçın Özuysal, Özden; Meşe Özçivici, Gülistan
    Connexins (Cx) are primary components of gap junctions that selectively allow molecules to be exchanged between adjacent cells, regulating multiple cellular functions. Along with their channel forming functions, connexins play a variety of roles in different stages of tumorigenesis and their roles in tumor initiation and progression is isoform- and tissue-specific. While Cx26 and Cx43 were downregulated during breast tumorigenesis, Cx32 was accumulated in the cytoplasm of the cells in lymph node metastasis of breast cancers and Cx32 was further upregulated in metastasis. Cx32's effect on cell proliferation, gap junctional communication, hemichannel activity, cellular motility and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) were investigated by overexpressing Cx32 in Hs578T and MCF7 breast cancer cells. Additionally, the expression and localization of Cx26 and Cx43 upon Cx32 overexpression were examined by Western blot and immunostaining experiments, respectively. We observed that MCF7 cells had endogenous Cx32 while Hs578T cells did not and when Cx32 was overexpressed in these cells, it caused a significant increase in the percentages of Hs578T cells at the S phase in addition to increasing their proliferation. Further, while Cx32 overexpression did not induce hemichannel activity in either cell, it decreased gap junctional communication between Hs578T cells. Additionally, Cx32 was mainly observed in the cytoplasm in both cells, where it did not form gap junction plaques but Cx32 overexpression reduced Cx43 levels without affecting Cx26. Moreover, migration and invasion potentials of Hs578T and migration in MCF7 were reduced upon Cx32 overexpression. Finally, the protein level of mesenchymal marker N-cadherin decreased while epithelial marker ZO-1 and E-cadherin increased in Hs578T cells. We observed that Cx32 overexpression altered cell proliferation, communication, migration and EMT in Hs578T, suggesting a tumor suppressor role in these cells while it had minor effects on MCF7 cells.
  • Article
    Citation - WoS: 20
    Citation - Scopus: 22
    Refractive Index Sensing for Measuring Single Cell Growth
    (American Chemical Society, 2021) Çetin, Arif E.; Topkaya, Seda Nur; Yalçın Özuysal, Özden; Khademhosseini, Ali
    Accessing cell growth on adhesive substrates is critical for identifying biophysical properties of cells and their therapeutic response to drug therapies. However, optical techniques have low sensitivity, and their reliability varies with cell type, whereas microfluidic technologies rely on cell suspension. In this paper, we introduced a plasmonic functional assay platform that can precisely measure cell weight and the dynamic change in real-time for adherent cells. Possessing this ability, our platform can determine growth rates of individual cells within only 10 mm to map the growth profile of populations in short time intervals. The platform could successfully determine heterogeneity within the growth profile of populations and assess subpopulations exhibiting distinct growth profiles. As a proof of principle, we investigated the growth profile of MCF-7 cells and the effect of two intracellular metabolisms critical for their proliferation. We first investigated the negative effect of serum starvation on cell growth. We then studied ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity, a key enzyme which is involved in proliferation, and degraded under low osmolarity that inhibits cell growth. We successfully determined the significant distinction between growth profiles of MCF-7 cells and their ODC-overproducing variants that possess strong resistance to the negative effects of low osmolarity. We also demonstrated that an exogenous parameter, putrescine, could rescue cells from ODC inhibition under hypoosmotic conditions. In addition to the ability of accessing intracellular activities through ex vivo measurements, our platform could also determine therapeutic behaviors of cancer cells in response to drug treatments. Here, we investigated difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), which has antitumor effects on MCF-7 cells by inhibiting ODC activity. We successfully demonstrated the susceptibility of MCF-7 cells to such drug treatment, while its DFMO-resistant subpopulation could survive in the presence of this antigrowth agent. By rapidly determining cell growth kinetics in small samples, our plasmonic platform may be of broad use to basic research and clinical applications.
  • Article
    Citation - WoS: 22
    Citation - Scopus: 24
    Scaffold-Free Biofabrication of Adipocyte Structures With Magnetic Levitation
    (John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2021) Sarıgil, Öykü; Yalçın Özuysal, Özden; Anıl İnevi, Müge; Meşe Özçivici, Gülistan; Fıratlıgil Yıldırır, Burcu; Fıratlıgil Yıldırır, Burcu; Ünal, Yağmur Ceren; Ünal, Yağmur Ceren; Yalçın Özuysal, Özden; Özçivici, Engin; Meşe, Gülistan; Sarıgil, Öykü; Özçivici, Engin; Anıl İnevi, Müge; Meşe Özçivici, Gülistan
    Tissue engineering research aims to repair the form and/or function of impaired tissues. Tissue engineering studies mostly rely on scaffold-based techniques. However, these techniques have certain challenges, such as the selection of proper scaffold material, including mechanical properties, sterilization, and fabrication processes. As an alternative, we propose a novel scaffold-free adipose tissue biofabrication technique based on magnetic levitation. In this study, a label-free magnetic levitation technique was used to form three-dimensional (3D) scaffold-free adipocyte structures with various fabrication strategies in a microcapillary-based setup. Adipogenic-differentiated 7F2 cells and growth D1 ORL UVA stem cells were used as model cells. The morphological properties of the 3D structures of single and cocultured cells were analyzed. The developed procedure leads to the formation of different patterns of single and cocultured adipocytes without a scaffold. Our results indicated that adipocytes formed loose structures while growth cells were tightly packed during 3D culture in the magnetic levitation platform. This system has potential for ex vivo modeling of adipose tissue for drug testing and transplantation applications for cell therapy in soft tissue damage. Also, it will be possible to extend this technique to other cell and tissue types.
  • Article
    Citation - WoS: 16
    Citation - Scopus: 18
    Connexin 32 Induces Pro-Tumorigenic Features in Mcf10a Normal Breast Cells and Mda-Mb Metastatic Breast Cancer Cells
    (Elsevier, 2020) Yalçın Özuysal, Özden; Adak, Aslı; Ünal, Yağmur Ceren; Yücel, Simge; Vural, Zehra; Turan, Fatma Başak; Meşe, Gülistan
    Connexins (Cx), the basic subunit of gap junctions, play important roles in cell homeostasis, and their abnormal expression and function are associated with human hereditary diseases and cancers. In tumorigenesis, connexins were observed to have both anti-tumorigenic and pro-tumorigenic roles in a context- and stage-dependent manner. Initially, Cx26 and Cx43 were thought to be the only connexins involved in normal breast homeostasis and breast cancer. Later on, association of Cx32 expression with lymph node metastasis of breast cancer and subsequent demonstration of its expression in normal breast tissue suggested that Cx32 contributes to breast tissue homeostasis. Here, we aimed to determine the effects of Cx32 on normal breast cells, MCF10A, and on breast cancer cells, MDA-MB-231. Cx32 overexpression had profound effects on MCF10A cells, decreasing cell proliferation by increasing the doubling time of MCF10A. Furthermore, MCF10A cells acquired mesenchymal-like appearance upon Cx32 expression and had increased migration capacity and expression of both E-cadherin and vimentin. In contrast, Cx32 overexpression altered the EMT markers of MDA-MB-231 by increasing the expression of mesenchymal markers, such as slug and vimentin, and decreasing E-cadherin expression without affecting their proliferation and morphology. Our results indicate, for the first time in the literature, that Cx32 has tumor-promoting roles in MCF10A and MDA-MB-231 cells.
  • Article
    Citation - WoS: 9
    Citation - Scopus: 10
    Effects of Notch Signalling on the Expression of Sema3c, Hmga2, Cxcl14, Cxcr7, and Ccl20 in Breast Cancer
    (TÜBİTAK, 2019) Küçükköse, Cansu; Yalçın Özuysal, Özden
    Metastasis is the main reason for death in breast cancer. Understanding the molecular players in metastasis is crucial for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Notch signalling plays an oncogenic role in breast tumorigenesis and is involved in metastasis. Downstream mediators of Notch signalling in prometastatic processes are not yet fully discovered. Here we aimed to investigate whether Notch signalling regulates the expression of SEMA3C, HMGA2, CXCL14, CXCR7, and CCL20, which are involved in prometastatic processes, in breast cell lines. To this end, expression of the selected genes was analysed following Notch activation by overexpression of the Notch1 intracellular domain in the normal breast epithelial cell line MCF10A, and inhibition by silencing of the Notch transcriptional mediator RBPj kappa in the breast cancer cell line MDA MB 231. SEMA3C and HMGA2 mRNA were decreased, while CXCL14 and CXCR7 mRNA were increased significantly in response to Notch activation in MCF10A cells. Notch inhibition in MDA MB 231 cells significantly decreased HMGA2 and CCL20 mRNA. Protein levels were not significantly altered by Notch modulation. In conclusion, we showed that Notch signalling regulates expression of SEMA3C, CXCL14, CCL20, CXCR7, and HMGA2, which are prominent candidate genes that might function downstream of Notch to induce prometastatic processes.
  • Article
    Citation - WoS: 17
    Citation - Scopus: 19
    Pro-Metastatic Functions of Notch Signaling Is Mediated by Cyr61 in Breast Cells
    (Elsevier, 2020) Küçükköse, Cansu; Efe, Eda; Günyüz, Zehra Elif; Fıratlıgil, Burcu; Doğan, Hülya; Yalçın Özuysal, Özden; İlhan, Mustafa
    Metastasis is the main cause of cancer related deaths, and unfolding the molecular mechanisms underlying metastatic progression is critical for the development of novel therapeutic approaches. Notch is one of the key signaling pathways involved in breast tumorigenesis and metastasis. Notch activation induces pro-metastatic processes such as migration, invasion and epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). However, molecular mediators working downstream of Notch in these processes are not fully elucidated. CYR61 is a secreted protein implicated in metastasis, and its inhibition by a monoclonal antibody suppresses metastasis in xenograft breast tumors, indicating the clinical importance of CYR61 targeting. Here, we aimed to investigate whether CYR61 works downstream of Notch in inducing pro-metastatic phenotypes in breast cells. We showed that CYR61 expression is positively regulated by Notch activity in breast cells. Notch1-induced migration, invasion and anchorage independent growth of a normal breast cell line, MCF10A, were abrogated by CYR61 silencing. Furthermore, upregulation of core EMT markers upon Notch1-activation was impaired in the absence of CYR61. However, reduced migration and invasion of highly metastatic cell line, MDA MB 231, cells upon Notch inhibition was not dependent on CYR61 downregulation. In conclusion, we showed that in normal breast cell line MCF10A, CYR61 is a mediator of Notch1-induced pro-metastatic phenotypes partly via induction of EMT. Our results imply CYR61 as a prominent therapeutic candidate for a subpopulation of breast tumors with high Notch activity.
  • Article
    Citation - WoS: 79
    Citation - Scopus: 94
    Biofabrication of in Situ Self Assembled 3d Cell Cultures in a Weightlessness Environment Generated Using Magnetic Levitation
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2018) Anıl İnevi, Müge; Yaman, Sena; Arslan Yıldız, Ahu; Meşe, Gülistan; Yalçın Özuysal, Özden; Tekin, Hüseyin Cumhur; Özçivici, Engin
    Magnetic levitation though negative magnetophoresis is a novel technology to simulate weightlessness and has recently found applications in material and biological sciences. Yet little is known about the ability of the magnetic levitation system to facilitate biofabrication of in situ three dimensional (3D) cellular structures. Here, we optimized a magnetic levitation though negative magnetophoresis protocol appropriate for long term levitated cell culture and developed an in situ 3D cellular assembly model with controlled cluster size and cellular pattern under simulated weightlessness. The developed strategy outlines a potential basis for the study of weightlessness on 3D living structures and with the opportunity for real-time imaging that is not possible with current ground-based simulated weightlessness techniques. The low-cost technique presented here may offer a wide range of biomedical applications in several research fields, including mechanobiology, drug discovery and developmental biology.
  • Article
    Citation - WoS: 90
    Citation - Scopus: 94
    Progesterone and Wnt4 Control Mammary Stem Cells Via Myoepithelial Crosstalk
    (John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2015) Rajaram, Renuga Devi; Buric, Duje; Caikovski, Marian; Ayyanan, Ayyakkannu; Rougemont, Jacques; Shan, Jingdong; Vainio, Seppo J.; Yalçın Özuysal, Özden; Brisken, Cathrin
    Ovarian hormones increase breast cancer risk by poorly understood mechanisms. We assess the role of progesterone on global stem cell function by serially transplanting mouse mammary epithelia. Progesterone receptor (PR) deletion severely reduces the regeneration capacity of the mammary epithelium. The PR target, receptor activator of Nf-κB ligand (RANKL), is not required for this function, and the deletion of Wnt4 reduces the mammary regeneration capacity even more than PR ablation. A fluorescent reporter reveals so far undetected perinatal Wnt4 expression that is independent of hormone signaling. Pubertal and adult Wnt4 expression is specific to PR+ luminal cells and requires intact PR signaling. Conditional deletion of Wnt4 reveals that this early, previously unappreciated, Wnt4 expression is functionally important. We provide genetic evidence that canonical Wnt signaling in the myoepithelium required PR and Wnt4, whereas the canonical Wnt signaling activities observed in the embryonic mammary bud and in the stroma around terminal end buds are independent of Wnt4. Thus, progesterone and Wnt4 control stem cell function through a luminal-myoepithelial crosstalk with Wnt4 acting independent of PR perinatally. Synopsis This paper ascribes a new role for Wnt4 in pre-pubertal mammary gland development while revealing luminal cells to respond to Wnt activation. During regeneration, Wnt4 interacts with progesterone receptor signaling, correcting previous notions on RANKL signaling in this context. Wnt4 is an essential control factor for mammary epithelial stem cell function. RANKL is not required for mammary gland regeneration potential. Wnt4 activates canonical Wnt signaling in the basal/myoepithelial compartment. Progesterone receptor signaling is required for mammary epithelial Wnt4 expression already during puberty. This paper ascribes a new role for Wnt4 in pre-pubertal mammary gland development while revealing luminal cells to respond to Wnt activation. During regeneration, Wnt4 interacts with progesterone receptor signaling, correcting previous notions on RANKL signaling in this context.