Recapitulating tumour microenvironment in chitosan–gelatin three-dimensional scaffolds: an improvedin vitrotumour model

Abstract

Owing to the reduced co-relationship between conventional flat Petri dish culture (twodimensional) and the tumour microenvironment, there has been a shift towards threedimensional culture systems that show an improved analogy to the same. In this work, an extracellular matrix (ECM)-mimicking three-dimensional scaffold based on chitosan and gelatin was fabricated and explored for its potential as a tumour model for lung cancer. It was demonstrated that the chitosan -gelatin (CG) scaffolds supported the formation of tumoroids that were similar to tumours grown in vivo for factors involved in tumour-cell -ECM interaction, invasion and metastasis, and response to anti-cancer drugs. On the other hand, the two-dimensional Petri dish surfaces did not demonstrate gene-expression profiles similar to tumours grown in vivo. Further, the three-dimensional CG scaffolds supported the formation of tumoroids, using other types of cancer cells such as breast, cervix and bone, indicating a possible wider potential for in vitro tumoroid generation. Overall, the results demonstrated that CG scaffolds can be an improved in vitro tool to study cancer progression and drug screening for solid tumours.

Pore orientation mediated control of mechanical behavior of scaffolds and its application in cartilage-mimetic scaffold design

“…Fabrication of random and aligned scaffolds CG scaffolds were fabricated using a modification of the freezedrying technique (Arya et al, 2012). For this, low-viscosity chitosan and gelatin type B ($ 225 Bloom viscosity) from…”

Poly(d,l-lactide-co-glycolide)–chitosan composite particles for the treatment of lung cancer

“…In order to provide a more appropriate simulation of the tumor microenvironment, NCI-H460 tumoroids grown on chitosan-gelatin (CG) hydrogels were used for testing the bioactivity of the composite DDS. 37 It has been reported previously that these tumoroids are similar to tumors grown in vivo in terms of factors involved in tumor growth, tumor cell -extracellular matrix interaction, tumor invasion and metastasis, and drug resistance. 37 Therefore, these tumoroids can act as a bridging gap between the conventional two-dimensional (2-D) culture and tumors grown in vivo.…”

“…37 It has been reported previously that these tumoroids are similar to tumors grown in vivo in terms of factors involved in tumor growth, tumor cell -extracellular matrix interaction, tumor invasion and metastasis, and drug resistance. 37 Therefore, these tumoroids can act as a bridging gap between the conventional two-dimensional (2-D) culture and tumors grown in vivo. The details of this study can be found in the supplementary material.…”

Thoughts on Scaffolds

“…Scaffolds generated by this approach have been introduced to cells by way of manual seeding and found to encourage cell growth within them . Cells are found to grow in and out of the pores, but long‐term cellular growth has not been reported widely nor have any in‐depth in vivo studies been carried out.…”