Fluorescence microscopy analysis in prostate cancer cells reveals morphological and organizational differences between hemin-treated and control cells.

CARLA PALLAVICINI; ALEJANDRA PAEZ; VALERIA LEVI; ELBA VAZQUEZ; GERALDINE GUERON; LUCIANA BRUNO

Sierra de la Ventana

Congreso; XLIII Reunión anual de la la Sociedad Argentina de Biofísica; 2014

Sociedad Argentina de Biofísica

Cellular motility is the basis for cancer cell invasion and metastasis1. Using biophysical tools, we study prostate cancer (PCa) cells, PC3, and study the role of Heme Oxygenase-1 (HO-1) (rate-limiting enzyme in heme degradation) in cell proliferation, migration and invasion. HO-1 is also capable of regulating the adhesive properties and the morphology. In order to describe morphological differences in cells exposed to hemin, pharmacological inducer of HO-1, and control cells we fluorescenltly la belled the microtubules (MTs), and studied their effective persistence length in fixed cells, yet no significant differences were obtained. On the other hand we observed that the treatment affected the ?contacts? (in the form of filopdia-like protrusions (FLP)) amongst cells and the distances between them. By combining confocal fluorescence microscopy with computational tools we were able to quantify the contacts amongst cells, and the amount of filopodia per cell and also first-neighbour distances for both hemin trated and conrol cells. Our results revealed a higher amount of cell ?contacts? in hemin treated vs control cells. Hemin treated cells also contained a significantlly larger amount of FLP than control. Finally, by analysing the first-neighbour ensambles of fluorescence wide-field images we concluded that hemin treated cells are closer togeather than control. These results show that HO-1 modulation in PCa induces the remodeling of the actin filament architecture at filopodia, altering cellular morphology, towards a more adhesive and less invasive phenotype.