In vitro engineering of functional tissues relies on the creation of cell-instructive environment that facilitates cell growth, cell differentiation and tissue assembly. In this talk, I will present our work on the application of tissue engineering principles for the construction of physiologically relevant prostate cancer tumor models. We have developed a biologically relevant hydrogel culture system that recaptures essential features of prostate cancer (PCa) and its associated stroma. We discovered that PCa cells entrapped in chemically defined hyaluronic acid (HA) matrices formed distinct multicellular aggregates, expressed pro-angiogenic factors and up-regulated the production of drug resistant proteins. The PCa model was used successfully to test the efficacy of anti-cancer drugs, free or encapsulated in polymeric nanoparticles. Most recently, an ultrafast bioorthogonal reaction between tetrazine (Tz) and trans-cyclooctone (TCO) has been successfully applied to materials synthesis at well-defined interfaces. Hydrogels with spatial patterns and polymer fibers with alternating molecular structure have been successfully produced without having to rely on external triggers or polymer processing devices. The bioorthogonal platform has enabled the development of synthetic matrices with tissue-like anisotropy and spatial gradients. We are exploring the utility of these matrices for the construction of advanced, metastatic PCa models.<br/>

Engineering cell-instructive environments for the assembly of functional tissues

249th National Meeting (2015)

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