Comparative Analysis of Cell–Cell Contact Abundance in Ovarian Carcinoma Cells Cultured in Two- and Three-Dimensional In Vitro Models

• Main Authors: Olga M. Kutova, Ludmila M. Sencha, Anton D. Pospelov, Olga E. Dobrynina, Anna A. Brilkina, Elena I. Cherkasova, Irina V. Balalaeva
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-12-01
• Series: Biology
• Subjects: cell–cell contacts; cancer resistance; tumor spheroids; collagen hydrogel; adherens junctions; desmosomes
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/9/12/446

Tumor resistance to therapy is associated with the 3D organization and peculiarities of the tumor microenvironment, of which intercellular adhesion is a key participant. In this work, the abundance of contact proteins was compared in SKOV-3 and SKOV-3.ip human ovarian adenocarcinoma cell lines, cultivated in monolayers, tumor spheroids and collagen hydrogels. Three-dimensional models were characterized by extremely low expression of basic molecules of adherens junctions E-cadherin and demonstrated a simultaneous decrease in desmosomal protein desmoglein-2, gap junction protein connexin-43 and tight junction proteins occludin and ZO-1. The reduction in the level of contact proteins was most pronounced in collagen hydrogel, accompanied by significantly increased resistance to treatment with doxorubicin and targeted anticancer toxin DARPin-LoPE. Thus, we suggest that 3D models of ovarian cancer, especially matrix-based models, tend to recapitulate tumor microenvironment and treatment responsiveness to a greater extent than monolayer culture, so they can be used as a highly relevant platform for drug efficiency evaluation.