Europe PMC

This website requires cookies, and the limited processing of your personal data in order to function. By using the site you are agreeing to this as outlined in our privacy notice and cookie policy.

Abstract 


The establishment of organotypic preclinical models that accurately resemble the native tumor microenvironment at an anatomic human scale is highly desirable to level up in vitro platforms potential for screening candidate therapies. The bioengineering of anatomic-scaled three-dimensional (3D) models that emulate native tumor scale while recapitulating their cellular and matrix components remains, however, to be fully realized. In this focus, herein, we leveraged embedded 3D bioprinting for biofabricating pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) in vitro models combining gelatin-methacryloyl and hyaluronic acid methacrylate extracellular matrix (ECM)-mimetic biomaterials with human pancreatic cancer cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts to generate in vitro models capable of emulating native tumor size (∼6 mm) and stromal elements. By using a viscoelastic continuous polymeric supporting bath, tumor-scale 3D models were rapidly generated (∼50 constructs/h) and easily recovered following in-bath visible light photocrosslinking. As a proof-of-concept, tissue-scale constructs displaying physiomimetic designs were biofabricated. These models also encompass the incorporation of a stromal compartment to better emulate the cellular components of the PDAC native tumor microenvironment (TME) and its stratified spatial organization. Cell-laden tumor-size constructs remained viable for up to 14 days and were responsive to Gemcitabine in a dose-dependent mode. Cancer-stroma models also exhibited increased drug resistance compared to their monotypic counterparts, highlighting the key role of stromal cells in chemotherapeutic resistance. Overall, we report for the first time the freeform biofabrication of PDAC models exhibiting anatomic scale, different structural complexities, and engineered cancer-stromal compartments, being highly valuable for preclinical screening of therapeutics.

Similar Articles 


To arrive at the top five similar articles we use a word-weighted algorithm to compare words from the Title and Abstract of each citation.

Funding 


Funders who supported this work.

European Regional Development Fund

    Funda??o para a Ci?ncia e a Tecnologia (9)

    • Grant ID: LA/P/0006/2020

    • Grant ID: PTDC/NAN-MAT/3901/2020

    • Grant ID: 2023.03472.BDANA

    • Grant ID: CEEC/1048/2019

    • Grant ID: IF/01533/2015

    • Grant ID: DFA/BD/7692/2020

    • Grant ID: PTDC/BTM-SAL/30503/2017

    • Grant ID: UIDP/50011/2020

    • Grant ID: UIDB/50011/2020