Mineralized collagen induces phenotypic changes in MDA-MB-231

We examine the transcriptional alterations induced by in vitro culture of MDA-MB-231 cells on microfabricated hydroxyapatite-mineralized collagen devices that simulate bone matrix (PMID 29759731). As a control, we additionally characterize the transcriptional activity of cells cultured on a collagen substrate. We find that mineralized collagen increases the expression of genes associated with stemness and metastasis while culture on collagen increased expression of genes associated with cell cycle progression. MDA-MB-231 were seeded onto collagen or mineralized collagen microwells and routinely cultured for 7 days. Cells were harvested using collagenase and RNA was isolated from each sample using an RNA isolation kit accourding to manufacturer's protocols. Library prep was done with Illumina TruSeq RNA stranded kit and samples were sequenced as 1 x 86 bp single-end reads on the NextSeq500.