3D tunable extracellular matrix to study cell migration
November 2018
Michigan State University, Lansing, USA(1)
University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, USA(2)
University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, USA(2)
The microstructure of the extracellular matrix has a relevant role in facilitating tumour cell invasion. Specifically, the aligning of type I collagen fibres has been shown to be critical for the migration of stromal and cancer cells. There are several physical cues in fibrillar collagen that may have an influence in regulating cell migration, but it is difficult to analyse them independently within the collagen networks. Here, two types of nanomolecules are used to induce different gelling mechanisms of collagen/alginate to form an in vitro tumour model based on a 3D extracellular matrix. This allows to tune different physical parameters to study how stromal fibroblasts modulate collagen structure to control human breast cancer cell migration. The results show that is possible to generate different fibrillar microstructures while maintaining similar physical characteristics. Moreover, spheroids of human mammary fibroblasts remodel the collagen matrix, depending on the fibrillar microstructure, to facilitate the migration of invasive tumour cells. Overall, the researchers propose a new platform to elucidate how biophysical properties of tumour environments modulate key mechanisms in cancer progression.
Mammary fibroblasts remodel fibrillar collagen microstructure in a biomimetic nanocomposite hydrogel
Andre Lee(1), Gary D Luker(2)
Added on: 10-06-2021
[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1742706118306640[2] https://data.jrc.ec.europa.eu/dataset/ffebe454-ed9a-47cf-8a33-8cf70c1b7d38
