Assessment of Stiffness-Dependent Autophagosome Formation and Apoptosis in Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma Tumor Cells

Remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM) eventually causes the stiffening of tumors and changes to the microenvironment. The stiffening alters the biological processes in cancer cells due to altered signaling through cell surface receptors. Autophagy, a key catabolic process in normal and cancer cells, is thought to be involved in mechano-transduction and the level of autophagy is probably stiffness-dependent. Here, we provide a methodology to study the effect of matrix stiffness on autophagy in embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma cells. To mimic stiffness, we seeded cells on GelMA hydrogel matrices with defined stiffness and evaluated autophagy-related endpoints. We also evaluated autophagy-dependent pathways, apoptosis, and cell viability. Specifically, we utilized immunocytochemistry and confocal microscopy to track autophagosome formation through LC3 lipidation. This approach suggests that the use of GelMA hydrogels with defined stiffness represents a novel method to evaluate the role of autophagy in embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma and other cancer cells.