Fig. 6: 3D co-culture-enhanced ALL aggregation, migration and proliferation lead to increased heterogeneity. | Leukemia

Fig. 6: 3D co-culture-enhanced ALL aggregation, migration and proliferation lead to increased heterogeneity.

From: A three-dimensional ex vivo model recapitulates in vivo features and drug resistance phenotypes in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Fig. 6

A Pie chart showing that 13 PDXs of different subtypes were analyzed in the 3D model. B Immediate cell-cell proximity ( < 10 μm) is enriched in co-cultures, suggesting superior cell communication (n = 3, PDXs used as biological replicates, statistical analysis: Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test, p value < 0.05). C Immediate contact is significantly enriched in B-ALL samples compared to T-ALL (same statistics as B). D Representative 3D reconstruction of B-ALL cells in the hydrogel. E, F Single-cell spatial distribution normalized to the highest ALL z-position per well. Light gray: B-ALL PDXs, Dark gray: T-ALL PDXs. G Dot plot showing the migration percentage of HUVECs, normalized to the highest leukemic cell position detected in the hydrogel (n = 3, statistical analysis: unpaired t test, p value < 0.05). H Migration analysis reveals that approximately 20–40% of ALL cells are in direct contact with the vessel-like structure (n = 3, statistical analysis: Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test, p value < 0.05). Migration percentages are based on the relative position of each cell to the highest localized ALL cell. I Proliferation assessment with CellTrace Violet via Flow Cytometry. The CellTrace intensity reveals a non-cycling (defined by timepoint 0, high CellTrace intensity), a slow cycling (medium CellTrace intensity) and a high cycling population (low CellTrace intensity). J Plots depicting the percentage of cells in each phase across the 13 PDXs per condition. K Immunofluorescent staining with CD19 for lymphocyte (B-ALL) identification. Both CellTrace positive (yellow arrows, non-cycling) and negative cells (white arrows, cycling) are detected. L Stacked bar plots depicting the proportions of non-cycling, slow cycling and high cycling cells in 3D and 2D co-culture respectively on day 7.

Back to article page