Department of Chemistry, CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.
Department of Chemistry, CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.
Biomaterials. 2018 Dec;185:155-173. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2018.09.007. Epub 2018 Sep 13.
3D multicellular tumor spheroids (3D-MCTS) that closely mimic in vitro the complex lung tumor microenvironment (TME) are highly desirable for screening innovative anti-cancer therapeutics. Despite significant improvements in mimicking lung TME, few models have combined tumor-infiltrating mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow (hBM-MSCs) with heterotypic 3D tumor spheroid models containing ECM mimetic components. Herein, we engineered hybrid 3D-MCTS that combine, for the first time, A549:fibroblasts:hBM-MSCs in heterotypic tri-culture, with bioinstructive hyaluronan microparticles that act as tumor-ECM mimetics and as cell-anchoring hotspots. The obtained results indicated that 3D microspheres provided proper support for cells to self-assemble into compact 3D microtissues and promoted an increase in CD44 expression, emulating the presence of native-ECM hyaluronan. 3D-MCTS size and sphere-like morphology was reproducible and tri-culture models presented the characteristic solid tumors necrotic core. Mesenchymal stem cells tracking demonstrated that hBM-MSCs migrate to different regions in 3D microtumors mass exhibiting dynamic interactions with cancer cells and stromal fibroblasts, alike in human tumors. Importantly, doxorubicin administration revealed hBM-MSCs effect on cytotoxic responses in 3D tri-culture models and in dual cultures of hBM-MSCs:A549 at 10:1 ratio. Such findings evidence the relevance of including hBM-MSCs in combination with cancer-stromal fibroblasts in 3D in vitro tumor models and the importance to test different cell-to-cell ratios to mimic tumor heterogeneity. In addition, bioinstructive hyaluronan-microparticles were also effective as cell-agglomerating scaffolds and showed potential to be used as an enabling technology for including different ECM components in 3D in vitro models in the future.
3D 多细胞肿瘤球体(3D-MCTS)非常接近地模拟了体外复杂的肺肿瘤微环境(TME),非常适合筛选创新的抗癌疗法。尽管在模拟肺 TME 方面取得了重大进展,但很少有模型将骨髓来源的肿瘤浸润间充质干细胞(hBM-MSCs)与包含细胞外基质模拟成分的异质 3D 肿瘤球体模型结合起来。在此,我们首次设计了一种杂交 3D-MCTS,将 A549:成纤维细胞:hBM-MSCs 异质三培养物与具有肿瘤细胞外基质模拟作用和细胞附着热点的生物指令透明质酸微球结合在一起。结果表明,3D 微球为细胞自组装成紧密的 3D 微组织提供了适当的支持,并促进了 CD44 表达的增加,模拟了天然 ECM 透明质酸的存在。3D-MCTS 的大小和球体状形态具有可重复性,并且三培养物模型呈现出特征性的实体瘤坏死核心。间充质干细胞追踪表明,hBM-MSCs 迁移到 3D 微肿瘤块的不同区域,与癌细胞和基质成纤维细胞表现出动态相互作用,与人类肿瘤相似。重要的是,阿霉素给药显示 hBM-MSCs 对 3D 三培养物模型和 hBM-MSCs:A549 以 10:1 比例的双重培养物中的细胞毒性反应的影响。这些发现证明了在 3D 体外肿瘤模型中结合 hBM-MSCs 和癌症基质成纤维细胞的相关性,以及测试不同细胞比例以模拟肿瘤异质性的重要性。此外,生物指令透明质酸微球也可作为有效的细胞聚集支架,并且具有在未来将不同细胞外基质成分纳入 3D 体外模型的潜在用途。