Viscoelastic hydrogels for interrogating pancreatic cancer-stromal cell interactions.

ABSTRACT: The tumor microenvironment (TME) is known to direct cancer cell growth, migration, invasion into the matrix and distant tissues, and to confer drug resistance in cancer cells. While multiple aspects of TME have been studied using in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo tumor models and engineering tools, the influence of matrix viscoelasticity on pancreatic cancer cells and its associated TME remained largely unexplored. In this contribution, we synthesized a new biomimetic hydrogel with tunable matrix stiffness and stress-relaxation for evaluating the effect of matrix viscoelasticity on pancreatic cancer cell (PCC) behaviors in vitro. Using three simple monomers and Reverse-Addition Fragmentation Chain-Transfer (RAFT) polymerization, we synthesized a new class of phenyl

SUBMITTER: Lin FY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9929443 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature