Department of Surgery, Erasmus MC Transplant Institute, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Department of Bionanoscience, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft, Delft University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands.
Biomater Adv. 2023 Mar;146:213289. doi: 10.1016/j.bioadv.2023.213289. Epub 2023 Jan 18.
Tumor initiation and progression are critically dependent on interaction of cancer cells with their cellular and extracellular microenvironment. Alterations in the composition, integrity, and mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix (ECM) dictate tumor processes including cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Also in primary liver cancer, consisting of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), the dysregulation of the extracellular environment by liver fibrosis and tumor desmoplasia is pertinent. Yet, the exact changes occurring in liver cancer ECM remain uncharacterized and underlying tumor-promoting mechanisms remain largely unknown. Herein, an integrative molecular and mechanical approach is used to extensively characterize the ECM of HCC and CCA tumors by utilizing an optimized decellularization technique. We identified a myriad of proteins in both tumor and adjacent liver tissue, uncovering distinct malignancy-related ECM signatures. The resolution of this approach unveiled additional ECM-related proteins compared to large liver cancer transcriptomic datasets. The differences in ECM protein composition resulted in divergent mechanical properties on a macro- and micro-scale that are tumor-type specific. Furthermore, the decellularized tumor ECM was employed to create a tumor-specific hydrogel that supports patient-derived tumor organoids, which provides a new avenue for personalized medicine applications. Taken together, this study contributes to a better understanding of alterations to composition, stiffness, and collagen alignment of the tumor ECM that occur during liver cancer development.
肿瘤的发生和发展严重依赖于癌细胞与其细胞和细胞外微环境的相互作用。细胞外基质(ECM)的组成、完整性和力学性能的改变决定了肿瘤的发生过程,包括细胞增殖、迁移和侵袭。同样,在原发性肝癌中,包括肝细胞癌(HCC)和胆管细胞癌(CCA),肝纤维化和肿瘤促结缔组织增生导致细胞外环境失调。然而,肝癌 ECM 中发生的确切变化仍未被描述,潜在的肿瘤促进机制仍知之甚少。在此,我们采用一种整合的分子和力学方法,通过优化的去细胞化技术,广泛表征 HCC 和 CCA 肿瘤的 ECM。我们在肿瘤和相邻肝组织中鉴定出了大量的蛋白质,揭示了独特的与恶性肿瘤相关的 ECM 特征。与大型肝癌转录组数据集相比,这种方法的分辨率揭示了更多的 ECM 相关蛋白质。ECM 蛋白组成的差异导致了宏观和微观尺度上的不同力学特性,这些特性具有肿瘤类型特异性。此外,我们利用去细胞化的肿瘤 ECM 构建了一种肿瘤特异性水凝胶,该水凝胶可以支持患者来源的肿瘤类器官,为个性化医疗应用提供了新的途径。总之,本研究有助于更好地了解肝癌发生过程中肿瘤 ECM 的组成、硬度和胶原排列的改变。
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