Engineering the Pre-metastatic Niche

Overview

Journal Nat Biomed Eng

Publisher Springer Nature

Specialty Biomedical Engineering

Date 2017 Oct 10

PMID 28989814

Citations 66

Authors

Brian A Aguado

Grace G Bushnell

Shreyas S Rao

Jacqueline S Jeruss

Lonnie D Shea

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The pre-metastatic niche - the accumulation of aberrant immune cells and extracellular matrix proteins in target organs - primes the initially healthy organ microenvironment and renders it amenable for subsequent metastatic cell colonization. By attracting metastatic cancer cells, mimics of the pre-metastatic niche offer both diagnostic and therapeutic potential. However, deconstructing the complexity of the niche by identifying the interactions between cell populations and the mediatory roles of the immune system, soluble factors, extracellular matrix proteins, and stromal cells has proved challenging. Experimental models need to recapitulate niche-population biology and mediate tumour-cell homing, colonization and proliferation. In this Review, we outline the biology of the pre-metastatic niche and discuss advances in engineered niche-mimicking biomaterials that regulate the behaviour of tumour cells at an implant site. Such oncomaterials offer strategies for early detection of metastatic events, inhibiting the formation of the pre-metastatic niche, and attenuating metastatic progression.

Citing Articles

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