Abstract 325: Nascent proteome analysis of tumor cells and their microenvironment in cultured human tumor tissues
Authors: Dong Meng , Aljakouch Karim , Böpple Kathrin , Winkler Bernd , Schüler Julia , Essmann Frank , Kopp Hans-Georg , Krijgsveld Jeroen , Aulitzky Walter E. 
Published: July 2021

Solid tumors are often considered as abnormal organs composed of the cancerous cells and their surrounding tumor microenvironment (TME) containing fibroblasts, immune cells, blood and lymphatic vessels, and the extracellular matrix. The heterotypic interactions between this diversity of cell types within the TME are maintained through a wide variety of secreted proteins, resulting in a favorable milieu for the progression of the malignancy. The interactions between tumor cells and TME are complex and remain poorly understood. Here we investigated this by developing a unique nascent proteomic approach in tumor tissues.Precision cut cancer tissue slices (PCCTS) maintain tissue heterogeneity with different cell types and preserved TME. Cultivation of PCCTS provides an ex vivo model for tumor tissues. We developed an approach for PCCTS's nascent proteome analysis, using pulsed-SILAC (stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture) labeling combined with click-chemistry to selectively isolate and quantify newly synthesized proteins in the TME upon applying a cellular perturbation. It is a powerful tool to selectively enrich secretory proteins from culture media even with presence of serum. Primary human ovarian tumors (phOVT) and patient derived xenografts (PDX) were used to produce the PCCTS with thickness of 150µm to 300µm. The different cell types and extracellular matrix of PCCTS make the depletion period of cells from the amino acids (methionine, lysine and arginine) prior the AHA-SILAC treatment difficult to define. The PCCTS need longer depletion periods than the 2D cell culture, the longer the depletion period the better depletion efficiency. Following, PCCTS were cultured in AHA-SILAC media and treated with cisplatin. PCCTS and culture media (containing secreted proteins) were harvested; newly synthesized proteins were enriched via click-chemistry and analyzed with mass spectrometry. The labeling time of 10 to 12h showed a good labeling efficiency of more than 60%, still further optimizations are needed. Different PCCTS showed various labeling efficiency indicating the patients heterogeneity. The nascent proteome analysis with cisplatin treatment demonstrated different protein regulations in patients suggesting different drug responses. STRING analysis can be applied to predict the protein-protein interactions. The immunohistochemical staining of the same PCCTS can be processed to further validate the results of the proteome analysis. In conclusion, we established a pulsed SILAC-AHA treatment approach for the PCCTS with the TME. This unique approach allows tracking the compositional and dynamic changes within the proteome and monitoring the direct proteome response at rapid time scale. It can be used to reveal a part of the proteome that has been poorly understood in the tumor tissues and contribute to studying cellular communication and finding new therapeutic targets.

Citation Format: Meng Dong, Karim Aljakouch, Kathrin Böpple, Bernd Winkler, Julia Schüler, Frank Essmann, Hans-Georg Kopp, Jeroen Krijgsveld, Walter E. Aulitzky. Nascent proteome analysis of tumor cells and their microenvironment in cultured human tumor tissues [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 325.