An Innovative Arteriovenous (AV) Loop Breast Cancer Model Tailored for Cancer Research

Ran An; Pamela L Strissel; Majida Al-Abboodi; Jan W Robering; Reakasame Supachai; Markus Eckstein; Ajay Peddi; Theresa Hauck; Tobias Bäuerle; Aldo R Boccaccini; Almoatazbellah Youssef; Jiaming Sun; Reiner Strick; Raymund E Horch; Anja M Boos; Annika Kengelbach-Weigand

doi:10.3390/bioengineering9070280

An Innovative Arteriovenous (AV) Loop Breast Cancer Model Tailored for Cancer Research

Bioengineering (Basel). 2022 Jun 27;9(7):280. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering9070280.

Authors

Ran An^{1

2}, Pamela L Strissel³, Majida Al-Abboodi^{1

4}, Jan W Robering^{1

5}, Reakasame Supachai⁶, Markus Eckstein⁷, Ajay Peddi^{1

8}, Theresa Hauck¹, Tobias Bäuerle⁹, Aldo R Boccaccini⁶, Almoatazbellah Youssef^{10

11}, Jiaming Sun², Reiner Strick³, Raymund E Horch¹, Anja M Boos^{1

5}, Annika Kengelbach-Weigand¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Department of Plastic and Hand Surgery, University Hospital Erlangen, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
² Department of Plastic Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China.
³ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital Erlangen, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
⁴ Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Baghdad, Baghdad 10081, Iraq.
⁵ Department of Plastic- and Hand Surgery, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
⁶ Institute of Biomaterials, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91056 Erlangen, Germany.
⁷ Institute of Pathology, University Hospital Erlangen, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
⁸ Institute of Clinical Radiology, University Hospital Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany.
⁹ Preclinical Imaging Platform Erlangen (PIPE), Department of Radiology, University Hospital Erlangen, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
¹⁰ Department of Functional Materials in Medicine and Dentistry, University of Würzburg, 97080 Würzburg, Germany.
¹¹ Institute of Pathology, University of Würzburg, 97080 Würzburg, Germany.

Abstract

Animal models are important tools to investigate the pathogenesis and develop treatment strategies for breast cancer in humans. In this study, we developed a new three-dimensional in vivo arteriovenous loop model of human breast cancer with the aid of biodegradable materials, including fibrin, alginate, and polycaprolactone. We examined the in vivo effects of various matrices on the growth of breast cancer cells by imaging and immunohistochemistry evaluation. Our findings clearly demonstrate that vascularized breast cancer microtissues could be engineered and recapitulate the in vivo situation and tumor-stromal interaction within an isolated environment in an in vivo organism. Alginate-fibrin hybrid matrices were considered as a highly powerful material for breast tumor engineering based on its stability and biocompatibility. We propose that the novel tumor model may not only serve as an invaluable platform for analyzing and understanding the molecular mechanisms and pattern of oncologic diseases, but also be tailored for individual therapy via transplantation of breast cancer patient-derived tumors.

Keywords: animal model; arteriovenous loop; breast cancer.

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 81901977). The study was further funded in part by the Forschungsstiftung Medizin, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)—Projektnummer 326998133—TRR 225 (subprojects C03, B01, A01). Fibrinogen and thrombin were provided by Baxter Deutschland GmbH based on a material transfer agreement. We acknowledge financial support by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg within the funding programme “Open Access Publication Funding“.