Protocol for indirect and direct co-culture between human cancer cells and endothelial cells.
STAR Protoc 2023;
4:102177. [PMID:
37086411 PMCID:
PMC10160801 DOI:
10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102177]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Revised: 12/30/2022] [Accepted: 02/23/2023] [Indexed: 04/23/2023] Open
Abstract
The cross talk between cancer cells and endothelial cells (ECs) within the tumor microenvironment plays a critical role in tumor progression, recurrence, and cancer stemness. Here, we present a protocol containing two in vitro approaches to study such interactions. We first describe an indirect co-culture system to study the regulation of stemness markers in cancer cells by secreted factors from ECs. We then detail a direct co-culture system to study juxtracrine communications between the cell types. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Sewell-Loftin et al.1 and Guo et al.2.
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