Cancer-associated fibroblasts promote non-small cell lung cancer cell invasion by upregulation of glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78) expression in an integrated bionic microfluidic device

The tumor microenvironment is comprised of cancer cells and various stromal cells and their respective cellular components. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), a major part of the stromal cells, are a key determinant in tumor progression, while glucose-regulated protein (GRP) 78 is overexpressed in many human cancers and is involved in tumor invasion and metastasis. This study developed a microfluidic-based three dimension (3D) co-culture device to mimic an in vitro tumor microenvironment in order to investigate tumor cell invasion in real-time. This bionic chip provided significant information regarding the role of GRP78, which may be stimulated by CAFs, to promote non-small cell lung cancer cell invasion in vitro. The data showed that CAF induced migration of NSCLC A549 and SPCA-1 cells in this three-dimensional invasion microdevice, which is confirmed by using the traditional Transwell system. Furthermore, CAF induced GRP78 expression in A549 and SPCA-1 cells to facilitate NSCLC cell migration and invasion, whereas knockdown of GRP78 expression blocked A549 and SPCA-1 cell migration and invasion capacity. In conclusion, these data indicated that CAFs might promote NSCLC cell invasion by up-regulation of GRP78 expression and this bionic chip microdevice is a robust platform to assess the interaction of cancer and stromal cells in tumor environment study.