Mesenchymal stem cells have been widely implicated in tumour development and metastases. Moving from the use of two-dimensional (2D) models to three-dimensional (3D) to investigate this relationship is critical to facilitate more applicable and relevant research on the tumour microenvironment. We investigated the effects of altering glucose concentration and the source of foetal bovine serum (FBS) on the growth of two breast cancer cell lines (T47D and MDA-MB-231) and human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBM-MSCs) to determine successful conditions to enable their co-culture in 3D tumour spheroid models. Subsequently, these 3D multi-cellular tumour spheroids were used to investigate the effect of hBM-MSCs on breast cancer cell invasiveness. Findings presented herein show that serum source had a statistically significant effect on two thirds of the growth parameters measured across all three cell lines, whereas glucose only had a statistically significant effect on 6%. It was determined that the optimum growth media composition for the co-culture of 3D hBM-MSCs and breast cancer cell line spheroids was 1 g/L glucose DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS from source A. Subsequent results demonstrated that co-culture of hBM-MSCs and MDA-MB-231 cells dramatically reduced invasiveness of both cell lines (F(1,4) = 71.465, p = 0.001) when embedded into a matrix comprising of growth-factor reduced base membrane extract (BME) and collagen.

Background: Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in women worldwide. In the UK, approximately 5% of all breast cancers are already metastatic at the time of diagnosis. An abundance of literature shows exercise can have beneficial effects on the outcome and prognosis of breast cancer patients, yet the molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. There are several in vitro models that aim to recapitulate the response of breast cancer to exercise in vivo: this systematic review and meta-analysis summarises the existing literature. Methods: The following search terms were used to conduct a systematic literature search using a collection of databases (last search performed May 2020): 'in vitro' and 'exercise' and 'breast cancer'. Only studies that investigated the effects of exercise on breast cancer in vitro were included. Standardised mean differences (SMD) were calculated to determine pooled effect sizes. Results: This meta-analysis has successfully demonstrated that various identified exercise interventions on breast cancer cells in vitro significantly reduced breast cancer cell viability, proliferation, and tumourigenic potential (SMD: -1.76, p = 0.004, SMD: -2.85, p = 0.003 and SMD: -3.15, p = 0.0008, respectively). A clear direction of effect was found with exercise on breast cancer cell migration in vitro, however this effect was not significant (SMD: -0.62, p = 0.317). Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first meta-analysis and systematic review investigating and summarising literature on exercise and breast cancer in vitro, highlighting models used and priority areas for future research focus.

Breast cancer is a persisting global burden for health services with cases and deaths projected to rise in future years. Surgery complemented by adjuvant therapy is commonly used to treat breast cancer, however comes with detrimental side effects to physical fitness and mental wellbeing. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to determine whether resistance and endurance interventions performed during adjuvant treatment can lastingly ameliorate these side effects. A systematic literature search was performed in various electronic databases. Papers were assessed for bias and grouped based on intervention design. RStudio was used to perform the meta-analyses for each group using the ‘meta’ package. Publication bias and power analyses were also conducted. These methods conform to PRISMA guidelines. Combined resistance and endurance interventions elicited significant long-lasting improvements in global fatigue and were beneficial to the remaining side effects. Individually, resistance and endurance interventions non-significantly improved these side effects. Resistance interventions elicited higher benefits overall. Exercise interventions have lasting clinical benefits in ameliorating adjuvant therapy side effects, which negatively impact physical fitness and mental wellbeing. These interventions are of clinical value to enhance adherence rates and avoid comorbidities such as sarcopenia, thus improving disease prognosis.

Introduction: For stem cell therapies to be adopted in mainstream healthcare, robust, reliable and cost-effective storage and transport processes must be developed.Cryopreservation currently remains the best current platform for this and freezing cells at high concentration may have many benefits including savings on cost and storage space, facilitating transport logistics and reducing cryoprotectant volume.Cells, such as mesenchymal stem cells, are typically frozen at just one million cells per millilitre (mL) but the aim of this study is to examine the post-thaw attributes of human bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBM-MSCs) frozen at one, five and ten million cells per mL.Methods: Thawed cells were assessed for their morphology, phenotypic marker expression, viability, apoptosis level, metabolic activity, proliferation and osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation.Results: Here, for the first time, it is shown that all assessed cells expressed the typical MSCs markers (CD90, CD105 and CD73) and lacked the expression of CD14, CD20, CD34, CD45 and HLA-DR. In addition, all cells showed elongated fibroblastic morphology. Post-thaw viability was retained with no difference among the three concentrations. Moreover, no significant statistical difference was observed in post-thaw apoptosis level, metabolic activity, proliferation and osteogenic potential, indicating that these cells are amenable to cryopreservation at higher concentrations. Conclusion:The results of this study are of paramount importance to the development of manufacturing processes around a useful freezing concentration, when cells are targeted to be stored for short term duration up to six months.

Purpose: Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death in women globally, and mesenchymal stem cells have been widely implicated in tumour progression. This systematic review and meta-analysis seeks to identify and summarise existing literature on the effects of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) on the migration of breast cancer cells (BCCs) in vitro, to determine the direction of this relationship according to existing research and to identify the directions for future research. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducting using a collection of databases, using the following search terms: in vitro AND mesenchymal stem cells AND breast cancer. Only studies that investigated the effects of human, unmodified MSCs on the migration of human, unmodified BCCs in vitro were included. Standardised mean differences (SMDs) were calculated to determine pooled effect sizes. Results: This meta-analysis demonstrates that hMSCs (different sources combined) increase the migration of both MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cell lines in vitro (SMD = 1.84, P = .03 and SMD = 2.69, P < .00001, respectively). Importantly, the individual effects of hMSCs from different sources were also analysed and demonstrated that MSCs derived from human adipose tissue increase BCC migration (SMD = 1.34, P = .0002) and those derived from umbilical cord increased both MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 migration (SMD = 3.93, P < .00001 and SMD = 3.01, P < .00001, respectively). Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review and meta-analysis investigating and summarising the effects of hMSCs from different sources on the migration of BCCs, in vitro.