About this Research Topic
Although cancer therapies have improved prognosis significantly for several cancers, it remains rare for cancer to be fully cured as tumors adapt, leading to recurrence and metastasis in many cases after treatment. The tumor microenvironment (TME) is an emergent driver of this persistent cancer progression, presenting dynamic biomolecular and biophysical cues that intimately regulate cancer malignancy, metastasis, and therapy resistance. The complex features of the TME have begun to be dissected with studies detailing the cellular, non-cellular, and environmental conditions underlying tumor progression. However, efforts to tease out the precise mechanisms of cancer control remain limited due to the lack of in vitro systems capable of recapitulating TME cues. Advances in the understanding of TME regulation of cancer progression will provide new approaches to disrupt tumor progression and improve outcomes.
With the growing appreciation of the impact of the TME in cancer development, progression, and therapy resistance, investigations into the role of TME parameters is warranted. Traditional 2D culture platforms fail to recapitulate the complex TME cues, thus limiting the insights gained from these studies. Thus, there is a need for advanced bioengineered platforms that can enable robust interrogation of TME control of tumor evolution and spread. Exciting new reports are showing progress in modeling the TME with co-culture platforms that tease out cell-cell interactions, tunable hydrogel systems equipped with composition and stiffness control that enable matrix-cell interactions, and lab-on-a-chip devices that recapitulate several TME parameters simultaneously. Advances in these platforms will allow for new discoveries that can identify novel pharmacological targets, unravel mechanistic insights, and provide accurate high-throughput drug screening systems to improve cancer therapeutics and outcomes.
This research topic aims at collecting novel and creative works in TME modelling with a specific focus on advancing the tools available to recapitulate TME cues in vitro. These tools should consider TME factors such as matrix composition and stiffness, cell-cell interactions, oxygenation, tumor vasculature, and immune modulation. These efforts may include biomaterial innovations, high-throughput screening platforms, and basic science works that dissect TME regulation on therapy resistance, immune modulation, phenotype transition, and invasion.
• Innovative bio-printing strategies
• Novel 3D microfabrication approaches
• Tunable hydrogel systems
• Immuno-modulatory materials
• Co-culture platforms
• Microfluidic devices
• Stimuli-sensitive biomaterials
With the growing appreciation of the impact of the TME in cancer development, progression, and therapy resistance, investigations into the role of TME parameters is warranted. Traditional 2D culture platforms fail to recapitulate the complex TME cues, thus limiting the insights gained from these studies. Thus, there is a need for advanced bioengineered platforms that can enable robust interrogation of TME control of tumor evolution and spread. Exciting new reports are showing progress in modeling the TME with co-culture platforms that tease out cell-cell interactions, tunable hydrogel systems equipped with composition and stiffness control that enable matrix-cell interactions, and lab-on-a-chip devices that recapitulate several TME parameters simultaneously. Advances in these platforms will allow for new discoveries that can identify novel pharmacological targets, unravel mechanistic insights, and provide accurate high-throughput drug screening systems to improve cancer therapeutics and outcomes.
This research topic aims at collecting novel and creative works in TME modelling with a specific focus on advancing the tools available to recapitulate TME cues in vitro. These tools should consider TME factors such as matrix composition and stiffness, cell-cell interactions, oxygenation, tumor vasculature, and immune modulation. These efforts may include biomaterial innovations, high-throughput screening platforms, and basic science works that dissect TME regulation on therapy resistance, immune modulation, phenotype transition, and invasion.
• Innovative bio-printing strategies
• Novel 3D microfabrication approaches
• Tunable hydrogel systems
• Immuno-modulatory materials
• Co-culture platforms
• Microfluidic devices
• Stimuli-sensitive biomaterials
Keywords: Biomaterials, Microfabrication, Tumor Microenvironment, Hydrogels, 3D printing, High-throughput
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