Citation: Xiaonan Zheng, Ying Hou, Qiang Zhang, Yajing Zheng, Zengnan Wu, Xueji Zhang, Jin-Ming Lin. 3D microgel with extensively adjustable stiffness and homogeneous microstructure for metastasis analysis of solid tumor[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2023, 34(11): 108319. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2023.108319 shu

3D microgel with extensively adjustable stiffness and homogeneous microstructure for metastasis analysis of solid tumor

Xiaonan Zheng ^a ,
Ying Hou ^b ,
Qiang Zhang ^b ,
Yajing Zheng ^b ,
Zengnan Wu ^b ,
Xueji Zhang ^{a, c, *,} ,
Jin-Ming Lin ^{b, *,}

a.
Laboratory of Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, Research Center for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry & Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
b.
Beijing Key Laboratory of Microanalytical Methods and Instrumentation, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry and Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
c.
School of Biomedical Engineering, Health Science Centre, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China

zhangxueji@ustb.edu.cn

jmlin@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn

Received Date: 27 September 2022
Revised Date: 29 January 2023
Accepted Date: 8 March 2023
Available Online: 13 March 2023

Figures(5)

3D microgels with various mechanical properties have been important platforms tumor metastasis analysis, and widely adjustable stiffness is crucial for deeper researches. Herein, by mixing biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) nanofibers in the modified alginate with different concentrations of Ca²⁺, we significantly enhance the stiffness range of microgels while retaining the pore size, which provides bionic microenvironment for tumor analysis. As a proof of concept, we simulated the mechanical characteristics of breast tumors by encapsulating cells in 3D microgels with diverse stiffness, and analyzed cellular behaviors of two typical breast cancer cell lines: MCF-7 and SUM-159. Results showed that with the addition of 2.0% (w/v) PLA short nanofibers, the Young's modulus of modified alginate increased more than three-fold. Besides preserving high survival and proliferation rates, both cells also displayed stronger migration ability in soft microgel spheres, where RT-qPCR analysis revealed the underlying changes at the genetic level. This systematic study demonstrated our method is powerful for creating widely adjustable 3D mechanical microenvironment, and the results of cellular behavior analysis shows its promising application prospects in tumorigenesis and progression.
- Extracellular matrix stiffness,
- Composite hydrogel,
- Polylactic acid (PLA),
- Nanofibers,
- Metastasis analysis,
- Breast cancer
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