William P Schiemann
  • Faculty, Case Western Reserve University Cleveland
研究方向
  • Cancer Biology
Amplification and Quantitation of Telomeric Extrachromosomal Circles
端粒染色体外环的扩增和定量
作者:Nathaniel J. Robinson and William P. Schiemann日期:03/05/2023,浏览量:674,Q&A: 0

Telomeres are structures that cap the ends of linear chromosomes and play critical roles in maintaining genome integrity and establishing the replicative lifespan of cells. In stem and cancer cells, telomeres are actively elongated by either telomerase or the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) pathway. This pathway is characterized by several hallmark features, including extrachromosomal C-rich circular DNAs that can be probed to assess ALT activity. These so-called C-circles are the product of ALT-associated DNA damage repair processes and simultaneously serve as potential templates for iterative telomere extension. This bifunctional nature makes C-circles highly sensitive and specific markers of ALT. Here, we describe a C-circle assay, adapted from previous reports, that enables the quantitation of C-circle abundance in mammalian cells subjected to a wide range of experimental perturbations. This protocol combines the Quick C-circle Preparation (QCP) method for DNA isolation with fluorometry-based DNA quantification, rolling circle amplification (RCA), and detection of C-circles using quantitative PCR. Moreover, the inclusion of internal standards with well-characterized telomere maintenance mechanisms (TMMs) allows for the reliable benchmarking of cells with unknown TMM status. Overall, our work builds upon existing protocols to create a generalizable workflow for in vitro C-circle quantitation and ascertainment of TMM identity.

Longitudinal Bioluminescent Quantification of Three Dimensional Cell Growth
利用生物发光技术持续定量监测细胞的三维生长
作者:Michael K. Wendt and William P. Schiemann日期:12/05/2013,浏览量:8751,Q&A: 0
The use of three-dimensional (3D) cell culture systems is widely accepted as representing a more physiologically relevant means to propagate mammary epithelial and breast cancer cells. However, 3D cultures systems are plagued by several experimental and technical limitations as compared to their traditional 2D counterparts. For instance, quantifying the growth of mammary epithelial or breast cancer organoids longitudinally is particularly troublesome using standard [3H]thymidine or MTT assay systems, or using computer-assisted area calculations. Likewise, the nature of the multicellular aggregates and organoids formed by breast cancer cells under 3D conditions precludes efficient recovery of the cells from 3D matrices, an event that is time consuming and leads to spurious results. The assay described here utilizes stable expression of firefly luciferase as means to quantify the longitudinal outgrowth of cells propagated within a 3D matrices. The major advantages of this technique include its high-throughput nature and ability to longitudinally track single wells over a defined period of time, thereby decreasing the costs associated with assay performance. Finally, this technique can be readily combined with drug treatments and/or genetic manipulations to assay their effects on the growth of 3D organoids.