A review of co-culture models to study the oral microenvironment and disease

Abstract

Co-cultures allow for the study of cell-cell interactions between different eukaryotic species or with bacteria. Such an approach has enabled researchers to more closely mimic complex tissue structures. This review is focused on co-culture systems modelling the oral cavity, which have been used to evaluate this unique cellular environment and understand disease progression. Over time, these systems have developed significantly from simple 2D eukaryotic cultures and planktonic bacteria to more complex 3D tissue engineered structures and biofilms. Careful selection and design of the co-culture along with critical parameters, such as seeding density and choice of analysis method, have resulted in several advances. This review provides a comparison of existing co-culture systems for the oral environment, with emphasis on progression of 3D models and the opportunity to harness techniques from other fields to improve current methods. While filling a gap in navigating this literature, this review ultimately supports the development of this vital technique in the field of oral biology.

Experimental Models of Hepatocellular Carcinoma—A Preclinical Perspective

“…The response to the HCC chemotherapeutic agent sorafenib varies among cell lines, Hep3B being the most sensitive, with a calculated IC 50 value of 3.31 µM. The co-culture technique enables the cultivation of a variety of cell types together in one culture dish, allowing the examination of cell-cell interactions, which have been reported as key players in cancer invasion [69,70]. Iwahashi and colleagues remarked that co-culturing HCC cells (HepG2 and HuH-7) with hepatic stellate cells (LX2 and Li90) promotes cancer progression via the IL-6/STAT3 pathway, increases the migratory potential of the cancer cells, and elevates the expression of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition marker E-cadherin and stem cell markers EpCAM and CD44 [71].…”

A call for action to the biomaterial community to tackle antimicrobial resistance

“…[269][270][271] Incorporating multiple disciplines, including biology, engineering, and mathematics is likely to become decisive to furthering the field due to the multifaceted nature of co-culture systems. 272 As the regulatory pipeline becomes more time and cost consuming, it is important to develop a strong case to ensure present and future stakeholder participation. Silver is an attractive antimicrobial thanks to its status as an approved biomaterial, thus, it is possible to ease some of the requirements using predicate devices.…”

Bacterial Infection-Mimicking Three-Dimensional Phagocytosis and Chemotaxis in Electrospun Poly(ε-caprolactone) Nanofibrous Membrane

“…S. aureus is a leading cause of human bacterial diseases, including skin and soft tissue infections, food-borne illness, toxic shock syndrome and sepsis. A number of 3D in vitro culture systems have been developed to study the interactions between bacteria and cells [ 14 ]. S. aureus infection in skin tissue and bone has been studied using 3D co-culture models [ 15 , 16 ].…”