Figure 5

Damaged bone marrow cells and CM harvested from organs from irradiated mice support A2780 cell growth in vitro. a. Proliferation and expansion of A2780 cells co-cultured with irradiated BM cells from C57BL/6 GFP mice for 48 hours, showing that irradiation causes lethally damaging effects to BM cells that result in the release of growth- and metastasis-promoting factors in vitro. Non-irradiated BM cells showed little or no effect on the growth of A2780 cells (upper panel). On the other hand, irradiated BM cells support the rapid and spontaneous growth of A2780 cell clusters (lower panel). b. Microscopic count of A2780 cell clusters found per well (24-well culture plate) after 48 hours of co-culture with irradiated and non-irradiated BM cells (left panel). Microscopic count of A2780 cell clusters after 48 hours of co-culture with CM samples harvested from BM, lung, and liver from irradiated and non-irradiated mice. (right panel). This co-culture experiment was repeated twice. In each experiment, six mice were employed per group (n = 3, no-irradiation control; n = 3, irradiation at 1000 cGy). Microscopic counts were made in triplicate from the wells, with significant results. Results are presented as means ± SD, with a statistical significance *p < 0.05, **p < 0.005, or ***p < 0.0005 relative to the control (A2780 cells cultured in RPMI 0.5% BSA medium).