The application of CO 2 -sensitive AIEgen in studying the synergistic effect of stromal cells and tumor cells in a heterocellular system.

Reciprocal signaling between stromal and tumor cells was believed to contribute to tumor cell proliferation and apoptosis in heterocellular systems. Herein we used the CO2-sensitive AIEgen as bioprobe to study the synergistic effect of stromal cells and tumor cells in a heterocellular system. The experimental results demonstrated that metabolic rates of living tumor cells in the co-culture system were still faster than that of stromal cell through the detection of CO2 generation rate in living cell. All rates were, however, slower than that in homocellular system. It indicated that tumor cells would induce neighboring stromal cells to establish a common protection mechanism against foreign material invasion, which enhanced the cell activity and drug resistance. In addition, tumor cells in solid carcinoma exhibited delayed growth but less apoptosis in co-culture systems. Taken these results together, a bidirectional signaling pathway theory was proposed between tumor and stromal cells in co-culture system and could play a different and important role in anticancer drug molecules designs.