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Method Article
* Wspomniani autorzy wnieśli do projektu równy wkład.
We developed a heterogeneous breast cancer model consisting of immortalized tumor and fibroblast cells embedded in a bioprintable alginate/gelatin bioink. The model recapitulates the in vivo tumor microenvironment and facilitates the formation of multicellular tumor spheroids, yielding insight into the mechanisms driving tumorigenesis.
The cellular, biochemical, and biophysical heterogeneity of the native tumor microenvironment is not recapitulated by growing immortalized cancer cell lines using conventional two-dimensional (2D) cell culture. These challenges can be overcome by using bioprinting techniques to build heterogeneous three-dimensional (3D) tumor models whereby different types of cells are embedded. Alginate and gelatin are two of the most common biomaterials employed in bioprinting due to their biocompatibility, biomimicry, and mechanical properties. By combining the two polymers, we achieved a bioprintable composite hydrogel with similarities to the microscopic architecture of a native tumor stroma. We studied the printability of the composite hydrogel via rheology and obtained the optimal printing window. Breast cancer cells and fibroblasts were embedded in the hydrogels and printed to form a 3D model mimicking the in vivo microenvironment. The bioprinted heterogeneous model achieves a high viability for long-term cell culture (> 30 days) and promotes the self-assembly of breast cancer cells into multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTS). We observed the migration and interaction of the cancer-associated fibroblast cells (CAFs) with the MCTS in this model. By using bioprinted cell culture platforms as co-culture systems, it offers a unique tool to study the dependence of tumorigenesis on the stroma composition. This technique features a high-throughput, low cost, and high reproducibility, and it can also provide an alternative model to conventional cell monolayer cultures and animal tumor models to study cancer biology.
Although 2D cell culture is widely used in cancer research, limitations exist as the cells are grown in a monolayer format with a uniform concentration of nutrients and oxygen. These cultures lack important cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions present in the native tumor microenvironment (TME). Consequently, these models poorly recapitulate physiological conditions, resulting in aberrant cell behaviors, including unnatural morphologies, irregular receptor organization, membrane polarization, and abnormal gene expression, among other conditions1,2,3,4. On the other hand, 3D cell culture, where cells are expanded in a volumetric space as aggregates, spheroids, or organoids, offers an alternative technique to create more accurate in vitro environments to study fundamental cell biology and physiology. 3D cell culture models can also encourage cell-ECM interactions that are critical physiological characteristics of the native TME in vitro1,4,5. The emerging 3D bioprinting technology provides possibilities to build models that mimic the heterogeneous TME.
3D bioprinting is derived from rapid prototyping and enables the fabrication of 3D microstructures that are capable of mimicking some of the complexities of living tissue samples6,7. The current bioprinting methods include inkjet, extrusion, and laser-assisted printing8. Among them, the extrusion method allows the heterogeneity to be controlled within the printed matrices by precisely positioning distinct types of materials at different initial locations. Therefore, it is the best approach to fabricate heterogeneous in vitro models involving multiple types of cells or matrices. Extrusion bioprinting has been successfully used to build auricular shaped scaffolds9, vascular structures10,11,12, and skin tissues13, resulting in high printing fidelity and cell viability. The technology also features versatile material selections, the ability to deposit materials with cells embedded with a known density, and high reproducibility14,15,16,17. Natural and synthetic hydrogels are frequently used as bioinks for 3D bioprinting due to their biocompatibility, bioactivity, and their hydrophilic networks that can be engineered to structurally resemble the ECM7,18,19,20,21,22,23.Hydrogels are also advantageous since they can include adhesive sites for cells, structural elements, permeability for nutrients and gases, and the appropriate mechanical properties to encourage cell development24. For instance, collagen hydrogels offer integrin anchorage sites that cells can use to attach to the matrix. Gelatin, denatured collagen, retains similar cell adhesion sites. In contrast, alginate is bioinert but provides mechanical integrity by forming crosslinks with divalent ions25,26,27,28.
In this work, we developed a composite hydrogel as a bioink, comprised of alginate and gelatin, with similarities to the microscopic architecture of a native tumor stroma. Breast cancer cells and fibroblasts were embedded in the hydrogels and printed via an extrusion-based bioprinter to create a 3D model that mimics the in vivo microenvironment. The engineered 3D environment allows cancer cells to form multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTS) with a high viability for long periods of cell culture (> 30 days). This protocol demonstrates the methodologies of synthesizing composite hydrogels, characterizing the materials' microstructure and printability, bioprinting cellular heterogeneous models, and observing the formation of MCTS. These methodologies can be applied to other bioinks in extrusion bioprinting as well as to different designs of heterogeneous tissue models with potential applications in drug screening, cell migration assays, and studies that focus on fundamental cell physiological functions.
1. Preparation of the Materials, Hydrogel, and Cell Culture Materials
2. Measurements of Rheological Properties of Hydrogels
3. Scaffold Design, Cell-laden Hydrogel, and 3D Printing Models
4. Viability and Spheroid Formation Experiments on the Hydrogel Disks.
5. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
The temperature sweep shows a distinct difference of the A3G7 precursor at 25 °C and 37 °C. The precursor is liquid at 37 °C and has a complex viscosity of 1938.1 ± 84.0 mPa x s, which is validated by a greater G" over G'. As the temperature decreases, the precursor undergoes physical gelation due to the spontaneous physical entanglement of the gelatin molecules into a tri-helix formation29,30. Both the...
Cell-laden structures can be compromised if contamination (biological or chemical) occurs at any point in the process. Usually, biological contamination is seen after two or three days of culture as a color change in the culture media or the bioprinted structure. Therefore, the sterilization (physical and chemical disinfection) is a key step for all the cell-related processes. Noteworthy, autoclaving gelatin changes its gelling properties, which made it gel slower in the trials we conducted. Therefore, we sterilized the ...
The authors have nothing to disclose.
Tao Jiang thanks the China Scholarship Council (201403170354) and McGill Engineering Doctoral Award (90025) for their scholarship funding. Jose G. Munguia-Lopez thanks CONACYT (250279, 290936 and 291168) and FRQNT (258421) for their scholarship funding. Salvador Flores-Torres thanks CONACYT for their scholarship funding (751540). Joseph M. Kinsella thanks the National Science and Engineering Research Council, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Townshend-Lamarre Family Foundation, and McGill University for their funding. We would like to thank Allen Ehrlicher for allowing us to use his rheometer, Dan Nicolau for allowing us to use his confocal microscope, and Morag Park for granting us access to fluorescently labeled cell lines.
Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
Sodium alginate | FMC BioPolymer | CAS-No: 9005-38-3 | Protanal LF 10/60 FT |
Gelatin | Sigma-Aldrich | G9391 | Type B gelatin from bovine skin |
Dubelcco's phosphate buffered saline (DPBS 1X) | Gibco | LS14190136 | 1×, w/o calcium, w/o magnesium |
Magnetic hotplate | Corning | N/A | Stirrer/hot plate model PC-420 |
50 mL centrifuge tubes | Corning | 352098 | Falcon® 50mL High Clarity PP Centrifuge Tube, Conical Bottom, Sterile |
Centrifuge | GMI | N/A | Sorvall RT6000D, GMI, USA |
Calcium chloride anhydrous | Sigma-Aldrich | C1016 | |
MilliQ water | Millipore | N/A | |
Millipore 0.22 µm filters | Millipore | SLGS033SB | Millex-GS Syringe Filter Unit, 0.22 µm, mixed cellulose esters, 33 mm, ethylene oxide sterilized |
Oscillation rheometer MCR 302 | Anton Paar | N/A | |
Rheometer measuring tool CP25 | Anton Paar | 79038 | Conical plate geometry for rheometer |
RheoCompass | Anton Paar | N/A | Software controlling rheometer MCR 302 |
Scanning electron microscope | Hitachi | N/A | SEM, Hitachi SU-3500 Variable Pressure |
Paraformaldehyde, 96%, extra pure | Acros Organics | 416785000 | |
Dulbecco modified eagle medium (DMEM) | Gibco | 11965092 | |
Antibiotic/Antimycotic solution (100X) stabilized | Sigma | A5955 | |
Fetal bovine serum | Wisent Bioproducts | 080-150 | |
Cell culture T-75 flasks | Sigma-Aldrich | CLS430641 | 75 cm2 TC-Treated surface treatment |
3D bioprinter BioScaffolder 3.1 | GeSiM | N/A | |
GeSim software | GeSiM | N/A | Software controlling BioScaffolder 3.1 |
10cc cartridge UV resist | EFD Nordson | 7012126 | |
End cap | EFD Nordson | 7014472 | |
Tip cap | EFD Nordson | 7014469 | |
Piston | EFD Nordson | 7012182 | |
Stainless nozzle G25 | EFD Nordson | 7018345 | |
Water bath | VWR | N/A | |
Agarose | Sigma-Aldrich | A9539 | Bioreagent, for molecular biology |
Costar 6-well plates | Corning | 3516 | TC-Treated Multiple Well Plates, Individually Wrapped, Sterile |
Confocal spinning disk inverted microscope | Olympus Life Science | N/A | Olympus IX83 |
MTS assay kit | Promega | G3582 | CellTiter 96® AQueous One Solution Cell Proliferation Assay |
Live/Dead viability cytotoxicity kit | Molecular Probes,ThermoFisher Scientific | L3224 | |
Trypsin 0.25/EDTA 1X | Gibco | 25200-072 | |
Corning 96-well plate | Corning | 3595 | Clear Flat Bottom Polystyrene TC-Treated Microplate, Individually Wrapped, with Low Evaporation Lid, Sterile |
Autoclave Tuttnauer | Heidolph Brinkmann | N/A | Heidolph Tuttnauer 2540E Autoclave Sterilizer Electronic Model with 4 Stainless Steel Trays, 23L Capacity |
Trypan blue | Invitrogen | T10282 | 0.4% solution |
Ethanol | Commercial Alcohols | P016EA95 | Greenfield Speciality Alcohols |
CO2 Incubator | Panasonic | N/A | MCO 19AIC-PA |
Lyophilizer | SP Scientific | N/A | Virtis Sentry 2.0 |
SolidWorks | Dassault Systems | N/A | A CAD software used to build demostrative propeller-like model |
MATLAB | The MathWorks | N/A | A programming software used to generate G-code for BioScaffolder 3.1 |
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