Metastasis is the leading cause of fatality for women diagnosed with breast cancer. The most common anatomical sites of distant tumor growth include the brain, lung, liver, and bone, and it is well known that this metastatic spread in breast cancer is not random. Rather, different subtypes of breast cancer exhibit unique patterns of metastatic site preference. Given the physical and chemical diversity of these secondary tissue sites, my lab hypothesizes that there is a relationship between the biophysical and biochemical properties of the tissue, and the ability of cells within a particular subtype of breast cancer to adhere, migrate, grow, and respond to chemotherapy at these secondary sites. We create biomaterial microenvironments, which capture some of the key physical and biochemical elements of these tissues (brain, lung, and bone). Our approach is revealing how cell-material interactions are predictive of where cancer spreads, how some cancer cells can be ‘put to sleep’ at these distant sites, and how we can use rational material design to identify new, more powerful drug regimens to kill cancer cells more efficiently. I will discuss our lab’s emphasis on zwitterion-containing hydrogels to achieve these efforts, which we propose can predict metastasis in patients, and may serve as better systems to identify patient-specific cancer treatments.

Living tissues as inspiration for design of synthetic bioamterials

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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