STUDY OF PROSTATE CANCER CELL LINE PC3-ML CHEMOTAXSIS TO EPIDERMAL GROWTH FACTOR WITH A BIOMEMS DEVICE

Understanding the effects of different growth factors on the prostate cancer metastasis will enable researchers to develop different therapeutic strategies to stop the advance of cancer form primary to a secondary site. A microfluidic device was designed for high throughput assaying of prostate cancer cell migration to different growth factors. The device design was created with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and featured two wells connected by 10 microchannels. Each channel has a width of 20 μm and a length of 1 mm. One well is for cell seeding and other well contains chemoattractant factor. The device was placed on a culture dish and primed with growth media. PC3-ML cells in suspension of RPMI 1640 media supplemented with 2% of FBS were seeded in the cell wells. EGF (Epidermal Growth Factor) with 25, 50, 75, 100 and 125 ng/ml concentrations in cell culture media were individually added in the respective attractant wells. A 5-day time-lapsed study of cell migrating toward the chemoattractant was performed. The average numbers of cells per device in the microchannels were obtained for each attractant condition. The results indicate migration of cells increased from 50 ng/ml to 100 ng/ml of EGF and significantly decreased at 125 ng/ml of EGF, as compared to control.