INTRODUCTION: The increased prevalence of obesity over the last few years has intensified the need for physiologically relevant models for the characterization of the mechanisms regulating obesity-linked adipogenic and inflammatory responses. In obesity, there is an unhealthy expansion of adipose tissue, at the expense of hypertrophic processes responsible for the enlargement of adipocytes....
Prostate cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men, and the 5th leading cause of death worldwide1. The lack of the of robust and biologically relevant in vitro model systems that precisely recapitulate the pathophysiology of the human disease delay our understanding of the disease, and thus the discovery of the treatments. Owing the fact that tumor microenvironment plays an...
The combination of 3D bioprinting and tailored bioreactor designs allows the fabrication of advanced in 3D in vitro models. However, there is a lack of biomimic vessel models focusing on chemotaxis, which enable the investigation of the effect of simultaneous external stimuli. In this study, we propose a novel bioreactor system combined with bioprinted microvessels embedded in fibrin-based...
"Introduction:
Ovarian Cancer (OC) research is limited by the lack of an appropriate in vitro model of the tumor microenvironment. We utilized a perfusion bioreactor, suitable for the culture of up to 40 cell-seeded scaffolds (1), at velocities mimicking the cellular conditions in the extracellular fluid flow (2), to construct a new OC model. Our hypothesis was that operating the reactor at...
Introduction
Bone metastases are the most common cause of cancer-related pain and often lead to complication such as bone fractures and spinal cord injury, all of which can severely erode patient’s quality of life. Even tumors such as breast cancer that can be now early diagnosed, leading to a positive resolution, may present increased morbidity and mortality if they metastasize to bone. The...
Introduction
The development of reliable preclinical systems for anticancer drug testing has become an imperative considering that over 96% of oncology drugs that reach clinical trials ultimately fail [1]. Traditional cancer models comprising monolayer cell cultures (2D) where the cells adhere to the flat surface of a culture flask cannot recapitulate the complex 3D structure of in vivo...
Introduction
In advanced prostate cancer (PCa), cancer cells preferentially metastasise to bone. At this stage, survival rates drop from 56% to 3%1 and most treatment options for patients remain palliative. The bone metastatic niche (BMN) is indeed a complex microenvironment with various cell populations that have different roles in cancer cell migration, survival, and therapy resistance2....
"Introduction: The burden of central nervous system (CNS) diseases continues to increase especially with an aging global population. The interface between the brain and the blood is governed by the specialized endothelium which composes the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Brain metastasis has a high rate of incidence from melanoma, breast and lung cancers and the BBB is strongly involved in these...
Introduction
Despite increased global incidence of kidney disease, their mechanisms are yet not fully understood. Among the different segments of the nephron, the functional unit of kidneys, the proximal tubule (PT) is most susceptible for toxicant-induced injury because of its role in xenobiotic secretion and reabsorption. Moreover, genetic defects in transporters may lead to metabolic...
"Introduction: The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a highly organize structure that represents the major structural component of the tumor microenvironment. The ECM is a non-cellular network of proteins that provide to the tumor cells the capability to invade, proliferate and migrate. Indeed, the tumor microenvironment represents a dynamic scaffold, and the study of the ECM structure represents...
Introduction/background: Different hydrogels have recently been used to study the interactions between the different components of the tumor microenvironment (TME) in several types of cancer, including lung cancer. These studies try to emulate the characteristics of the tumor extracellular matrix. The pulmonary extracellular matrix is very complex. It varies in the different portions of the...
"Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide1. According to molecular signatures, it can be classified into four Consensus Molecular Subtypes (CMS) with CMS4 tumours being associated with worst relapse-free and overall survival2. CMS4 tumours are rich in mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) and have increased angiogenesis and inflamed immune phenotype....
Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) is an inherited connective disorder mostly caused by type I collagen
(Col I) mutations resulting in low bone mass and increased fracture incidence [1]. Type I collagen is the structural protein that maintains the mechanical properties of bone. To date, analysis of collagen structure has been conducted using either patient bone biopsies or animal (mice)...
Introduction
Tubular tissues are ubiquitous in the body, from blood vessels and lymph ducts to bile and breast ducts. Evaluating drug efficacy for the treatment of pathophysiological conditions using in vitro models is crucial before initiating animal and clinical trials. A major problem with current in vitro models is the discrepancy between in vitro and in vivo results. This discrepancy...
"Introduction. Worldwide cancer remains the second-most common cause of death; among bone cancers, Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common type diagnosed especially in children and young adults1. The lack of specificity for the Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs) subpopulation has been recently identified as the main limitation in conventional therapies2. Moreover, the traditional two-dimensional (2D) in...
Three-dimensional organoid culture offers great promise for precision medicine in cancer. In this study, we describe label-free imaging procedures including Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM) and Raman microscopy allowing in situ cellular analysis and metabolic monitoring of drug treatment efficacy. Primary tumor as well as urine specimens were utilized to assemble a biobank of...
Introduction: Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate among the common cancers, mainly due to its symptom-free progression and the advanced stage of the disease at the time of diagnosis. The response to current treatment strategies is low, mainly due to the extensive desmoplasia and fibrotic extracellular matrix (ECM), which acts as a barrier against efficient drug delivery.
One...
"Background: Tissue engineering methodologies have been used to generate in vitro models that emulate the characteristics of different types of cancer, including lung cancer. Lung cancer stands out for its great capacity for dissemination and mortality, based in part on the great capacity of cancer cells to develop drug resistance and in part on the complexity of tumor microenvironment (TME)....
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a degenerative and fatal disease, characterised by scarring of lung parenchyma and loss of respiratory function. Globally, this disease affects approximately three million people, and carries a typical life expectancy of 3-4 years at the point of diagnosis [1]. IPF is now considered to arise as a result of chronic damage to the alveolar epithelium,...
"Prostate cancer is the most life-threatening cancer for men with high incident and mortality rates, accounting for 1.4 million cases worldwide in 2020 with around 52,000 new cases in the UK every year. The progression and malignancy of prostate cancer have been linked with enhanced fatty acid utilisation that may be driven by the need of the cancer cells for energy to support growth and...
"Introduction: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a condition that has caused disability worldwide. However, progress in the development of effective therapies to treat SCI-associated neuropathologies has been slow so far. In particular, a few days after injury, a scar made of two components, an outer glial scar and an inner fibrotic scar composed of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, is formed and...
"Introduction
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a widespread tumor classified in heterogeneous subtypes according to the cell of origin and molecular features (1). Disease progression is linked to complex microenvironment, which includes several cell types, matrix components (2) and pervasive angiogenesis (3). Traditional 2D culture fails at resuming the complexity of in-vivo model,...
"Introduction. Photodynamic therapy (PDT), an anti-cancer therapeutic approach based on the selective activation by light of photosensitive molecules called ""photosensitizers"" 1, is promising in the context of bladder cancer treatment. This is due to the accessibility of the tumors in the bladder cavity for both instillation of photosensitizer and light irradiation 2. A main drawback of...
Introduction
Currently, human skin equivalents (HSEs), used as 3D in vitro models, are a particularly attractive intermediate step between conventional cultures and in vivo experimentation. Our group is focused on the development of non-viral gene therapies, based on hyperbranched poly (β-amino esters) (HPAEs), for Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa (RDEB). Traditionally, RDEB-HSEs...
