3D model of living brain cancer points to possible future for drug
screening

Date:
February 22, 2022
Source:
KTH, Royal Institute of Technology
Summary:
Researchers fabricated a 3D artificial cancer tissue that overcomes
one of the biggest challenges in tissue engineering: replicating the
body's smallest blood vessels. The breakthrough offers a possible
alternative to animal drug testing.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
As a potential alternative for drug testing without lab animals,
researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology developed and
successfully tested a 3D model of living brain cancer that surmounts
one of the biggest challenges in tissue engineering.


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In the recent issue of the scientific journal, Advanced Materials, the researchers reported a technique for replicating the body's smallest
blood vessels, otherwise known as microvasculature, inside of collagen
hydrogel loaded with living cancer cells. The technique, which is called cavitation molding, creates cavities small enough for cells to form into
blood vessels on a scale more closely resembling those of the human body.

The study's lead author, Alessandro Enrico, a PhD student at KTH, says
that the technique to create cavities for these blood vessels represents a breakthrough in biomedical research and that the method could potentially
be used for modeling other kinds of human tissues besides cancerous ones.

"This study represents a big step forward in terms of tissue engineering
model for drug screening," Enrico says.

For drug development the only alternative to animal testing is simple 2D
cell models, in which human cells are cultured on plastics in a flat,
two- dimensional arrangement. He says that although "lab-on-a-chip"
platforms in 2D are used to replicate living tissue, they're ultimately
limited by their simplicity.

"2D tissue models slow down testing and makes it more expensive," he
says. "The results of working with a 3D model relate to the actual
3D dimensional tissue in the human body." Replicating a 3D tissue
model would bridge the gap between simple 2D models and actual tissue physiology, he says. "But to obtain a 3D microvasculature in a hydrogel scaffold while maintaining cell viability is no easy feat." To create
the microvasculature that complex tissues like living brain cancer need
to survive, the researchers began by casting an unstructured collagen
hydrogel containing living cancer cells. Then, they use laser irradiation
of the hydrogel to generate gas bubbles that rearrange the collagen
fibers, thereby creating cavities and shaping microchannels. Finally, endothelial cells are pumped into the cavities, whereupon they assemble
in artificial blood vessels similar in size to the vasculature of the
human body The process causes no damage to the cells, a real risk with bioprinting techniques currently in development, he says.

The 3D tissue models closely replicate living tissue and remained stable
for at least eight days in physiological conditions. "This is essential
for studying complex biological interactions that can take days or weeks
to develop," Enrico says.

Enrico says that the next step is to investigate the compatibility of
this method with other hydrogels to model different tissues and organs.

This work was supported by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research,
or SSF (GMT14-0071), the Swedish Research Council (VR) (2021-05550),
and by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg foundation (Grant No. 2015-0178).

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KTH,_Royal_Institute_of_Technology. Original written by David
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========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Alessandro Enrico, Dimitrios Voulgaris, Rebecca O"stmans, Naveen
Sundaravadivel, Lucille Moutaux, Aure'lie Cordier, Frank Niklaus,
Anna Herland, Go"ran Stemme. 3D Microvascularized Tissue Models
by Laser‐Based Cavitation Molding of Collagen. Advanced
Materials, 2022; 2109823 DOI: 10.1002/adma.202109823 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220222121256.htm

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