A bioengineered heterotypic stroma-cancer microenvironment model to study pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

ABSTRACT: Interactions between neoplastic epithelial cells and components of a reactive stroma in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) are of key significance behind the disease's dismal prognosis. Despite extensive published research in the importance of stroma-cancer interactions in other cancers and experimental evidence supporting the importance of the microenvironment in PDAC progression, a reproducible three-dimensional (3D) in vitro model for exploring stroma-cancer interplay and evaluating therapeutics in a physiologically relevant context has been lacking. We introduce a humanized microfluidic model of the PDAC microenvironment incorporating multicellularity, extracellular matrix (ECM) components, and a spatially defined 3D microarchitecture. Pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) isolated fro

SUBMITTER: Drifka CR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3834588 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature