Viscoelastic hydrogels for interrogating pancreatic cancer-stromal cell interactions

Effects of matrix viscoelasticity on cell–matrix interaction, actin cytoskeleton organization, and apoptosis of osteosarcoma MG-63 cells

“…This strategy prevented cells from widely aggregating adhesion ligands, unlike the viscoplastic matrix, which was more similar to the mechanical properties of the actual soft tissue. 23 In this study, 2 kPa was selected as the elastic modulus since such a low storage modulus value would promote tumor cell apoptosis. The storage modulus of biological tissues is basically 2 kPa and above.…”

“…This strategy prevented cells from widely aggregating adhesion ligands, unlike the viscoplastic matrix, which was more similar to the mechanical properties of the actual soft tissue. 23…”

“…The stress relaxation and creeping behaviors have also been reported to affect the spreading, migration and proliferation of a variety of normal cells and tumor cells. [23][24][25] Moreover, most of the currently reported so-called viscoelastic matrices were in fact viscoplastic. 26 The deformation of viscoplastic matrices upon stress was irreversible, which led to problems such as a localized concentration of adherent ligands, which made these matrices impossible to fully simulate the effect of the actual extracellular matrix on cell behavior.…”

“…The stress relaxation and creeping behaviors have also been reported to affect the spreading, migration and proliferation of a variety of normal cells and tumor cells. 23–25…”

Extracellular matrix viscoelasticity regulates TGFβ1‐induced epithelial‐mesenchymal transition and apoptosis via integrin linked kinase

“…In spheroid models, cells grown in viscoelastic matrices have higher expression of mesenchymal genes compared to when grown in nearly elastic matrices. In one study, PANC‐1 human pancreatic cancer cells encapsulated in viscoelastic phenylboronic acid containing polymers had an increase (all less than 2‐fold) in N‐cadherin, vimentin, Snail, and Zeb1 mRNA levels compared to cells cultured within nearly elastic hydrogels of the same storage modulus (Gʹ = 6000 Pa) (Lin et al, 2023). Interestingly, there was an almost four‐fold increase in E‐cadherin mRNA levels in cells cultured in viscoelastic compared to nearly elastic hydrogels (Lin et al, 2023).…”