Rac1促进异质型细胞叠套结构的形成

Rac1 promotes the formation of heterotypic cell-in-cell structure

摘要:

异质型细胞叠套结构（heterotypic cell-in-cell structure，heCICs）与肿瘤发生和发展密切相关，在生命科学研究中的重要性逐渐显露。Ras相关C3肉毒毒素底物1（Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1，Rac1）属于经典的Rho GTP酶，在细胞骨架以及细胞运动中起到关键调控作用。为研究Rac1在heCICs形成中的作用和机制，利用活细胞示踪剂cell-tracker分别标记肿瘤细胞和免疫杀伤细胞，建立heCICs模型。利用Rac1抑制剂NSC23766抑制Rac1活性后发现，肿瘤细胞与免疫杀伤细胞之间的heCICs形成率显著降低。通过分子克隆技术获得重组质粒pQCXIP-Rac1-EGFP，进行病毒包装感染肿瘤细胞获得Rac1过表达细胞系。进一步检测Rac1过表达对heCICs形成能力的影响，结果表明，Rac1表达水平升高后，heCICs形成率显著升高。本研究显示Rac1具有促进heCICs形成的作用，这为Rac1作为细胞叠套相关疾病的药物治疗靶点奠定了研究基础。

Abstract:

Heterotypic cell-in-cell structures (heCICs) are closely related to tumor development and progression, and have become a new frontier in life science research. Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1 (Rac1) belongs to the classic Rho GTPase, which plays a key role in regulating the cytoskeleton and cell movement. To investigate the role and mechanism of Rac1 in the formation of heCICs, tumor cells and immune killer cells were labeled with cell-tracker, respectively, to establish the heCICs model. Upon treatment with the Rac1 inhibitor NSC23766, the formation of heCICs between tumor and immune cells was significantly reduced. The plasmid pQCXIP-Rac1-EGFP constructed by gene cloning was packaged into pseudoviruses that subsequently infect tumor cells to make cell lines stably expressing Rac1. As a result, the formation of heCICs was significantly increased upon Rac1 overexpression. These results demonstrated a promotive role of Rac1 in heCICs formation, which may facilitate treating cell-in-cell related diseases, such as tumors, by targeting Rac1.