A TRACER 3D Co-Culture tumour model for head and neck cancer

Miki Young; Darren Rodenhizer; Teresa Dean; Elisa D'Arcangelo; Bin Xu; Laurie Ailles; Alison P McGuigan

doi:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2018.01.038

A TRACER 3D Co-Culture tumour model for head and neck cancer

Biomaterials. 2018 May:164:54-69. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2018.01.038. Epub 2018 Feb 19.

Authors

Miki Young¹, Darren Rodenhizer¹, Teresa Dean², Elisa D'Arcangelo², Bin Xu², Laurie Ailles³, Alison P McGuigan⁴

Affiliations

¹ University of Toronto, Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, 200 College St., Toronto, ON, M5S 3E5, Canada.
² University of Toronto, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, 200 College St., Toronto, ON, M5S 3E5, Canada.
³ Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Canada.
⁴ University of Toronto, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, 200 College St., Toronto, ON, M5S 3E5, Canada; University of Toronto, Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, 200 College St., Toronto, ON, M5S 3E5, Canada. Electronic address: alison.mcguigan@utoronto.ca.

PMID: 29490260
DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2018.01.038

Abstract

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are a key component of the tumour microenvironment and have been shown to play an important role in the progression of cancer. To probe these tumour-stroma interactions, we incorporated CAFs derived from head and neck cancer patients and squamous carcinoma cells of the hypopharynx (FaDu) into the Tissue Roll for the Analysis of Cellular Environment and Response (TRACER) platform to establish a co-culture platform that simulates the CAF-tumour microenvironmental interactions in head and neck tumours. TRACER culture involves infiltrating cells into a thin fibrous scaffold and then rolling the resulting biocomposite around a mandrel to generate a 3D and layered structure. Patterning the fibrous scaffold biocomposite during fabrication enables control over the specific location of different cell populations in the rolled configuration. Here, we optimized the seeding densities and configurations of the CAF and FaDu cell tissue sections to enable a robust 3D co-culture system under normoxic conditions. Co-culture of CAFs with FaDu cells produced negligible effects on radiation resistance, but did produce increases in proliferation rate and invasive cell migration at 24 and 48 h of culture. Our study provides the basis for use of our in vitro co-culture TRACER model to investigate the tumour-stroma interactions, and to bridge the translational gap between preclinical and clinical studies.

Keywords: Cancer-associated-fibroblast; Cellular invasion; TRACER; Tissue mimetic platform; Tissue-engineered tumour; cancer.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* / pathology
Coculture Techniques / methods*
Head and Neck Neoplasms* / pathology
Humans
Pharyngeal Neoplasms* / pathology
Tumor Cells, Cultured
Tumor Microenvironment