Effect of tumor releasing factor, cGAMP on gene expression and calcium response in astrocytes

Abstract

Metastatic brain tumors emit various components, including cyclic 2'3'-GMP-AMP (cGAMP) to surrounding astrocytes, which may affect the tumor microenvironments. To identify the cGAMP targets, we analyzed transcriptome in cGAMP-incorporated astrocytes. cGAMP is encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles (ssPalm), then introduced into primary cultured astrocytes. After extracting the RNA, the fold change (FC) by cGAMP was investigated by microarray. Among the genes with high intrinsic expression levels, we searched for interacting factors with large FC in STRING's protein-protein interaction database. As an indicator of astrocyte responsiveness, changes in intracellular calcium concentration were observed by confocal time-lapse imaging.