A versatile 3D tissue matrix scaffold system for tumor modeling and drug screening.

ABSTRACT: Most of the anticancer drug candidates entering preclinical trials fail to be approved for clinical applications. The following are among the main causes of these failures: studying molecular mechanisms of cancer development, identifying therapeutic targets, and testing drug candidates using inappropriate tissue culture models, which do not recapitulate the native microenvironment where the cancer cells originate. It has become clear that three-dimensional (3D) cell cultures are more biologically and clinically relevant than 2D models. The spatial and mechanical conditions of 3D cultures enable the cancer cells to display heterogeneous growth, assume diverse phenotypes, express distinct gene and protein products, and attain metastatic potential and resistance to drugs that are reminiscent

SUBMITTER: Rijal G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5597314 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature