Hydrogel-Based In Vitro Models of Tumor Angiogenesis.

In situ forming hydrogels prepared from multi-armed poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), glycosaminoglycans (GAG) and various peptides enable the development of advanced three dimensional (3D) culture models. Herein, we report methods for the PEG-GAG gel-based 3D co-cultivation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells, mesenchymal stromal cells, and different cancer cell lines. The resulting constructs allow for the exploration of interactions between solid tumors with 3D vascular networks in vitro to study the mechanistic aspects of cancer development and to perform drug testing.