Isogenic-induced endothelial cells enhance osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells on silk fibroin scaffold

We investigated the role of induced endothelial cells (iECs) in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)/iECs coculture and assessed their osteogenic ability on silk fibroin nanofiber scaffolds.The osteogenic differentiation was assessed by the ALP assay, calcium assay and gene expression studies.The osteogenic differentiation of the iECs co-cultures was found to be higher than the MSCs group and proximal to endothelial cells (ECs) co-cultures. Furthermore, the usage of isogenic iECs for co-culture increased the osteogenic and endothelial gene expression.These findings suggest that iECs mimic endothelial cells when co-cultured with MSCs and that one MSCs source can be used to give rise to both MSCs and iECs. The isogenic MSCs/iECs co-culture provides a new option for bone tissue engineering applications

Selective Cytotoxicity of a Novel Trp‐Rich Peptide against Lung Tumor Spheroids Encapsulated inside a 3D Microfluidic Device

There is a globally rising healthcare need to develop new anticancer therapies as well as to test them on biologically relevant in vitro cancer models instead of overly simplistic 2D models. To address both these needs, a 3D lung cancer spheroid model is developed using human A549 cells trapped inside a collagen gel in a compartmentalized microfluidic device and homogenously sized (35–45 µm) multicellular tumor spheroids are obtained in 5 days. The novel tryptophan‐rich peptide P1, identified earlier as a potential anticancer peptide (ACP), shows enhanced cytotoxic efficacy against A549 tumor spheroids (>75%) in clinically relevant low concentrations, while it does not affect human amniotic membrane mesenchymal stem cells at the same concentrations (<15%). The peptide also inhibits the formation of tumor spheroids by reducing cell viability as well as lowering the proliferative capacity, which is confirmed by the expression of cell proliferation marker Ki‐67. The ACP offers a novel therapeutic strategy against lung cancer cells without affecting healthy cells. The microfluidic device used is likely to be useful in helping develop models for several other cancer types to test new anticancer agents

On-Chip Anticancer Drug Screening – Recent Progress in Microfluidic Platforms to Address Challenges in Chemotherapy

There is an increasing need for advanced and inexpensive preclinical models to accelerate the development of anticancer drugs. While costly animal models fail to predict human clinical outcomes, in vitro models such as microfluidic chips (‘tumor-on-chip’) are showing tremendous promise at predicting and providing meaningful preclinical drug screening outcomes. Research on ‘tumor-on-chips’ has grown enormously worldwide and is being widely accepted by pharmaceutical companies as a drug development tool. In light of this shift in philosophy, it is important to review the recent literature on microfluidic devices to determine how rapidly the technology has progressed as a promising model for drug screening and aiding cancer therapy. We review the past five years of successful developments and capabilities in microdevice technology (cancer models) for use in anticancer drug screening. Microfluidic devices are being designed to address current challenges in chemotherapy, such as drug resistance, combinatorial drug therapy, personalized medicine, and cancer metastasis are also reviewed in detail. We provide a perspective on how personalized ‘tumor-on-chip’, as well as high-throughput microfluidic platforms based on patient-specific tumor cells, can potentially replace the more expensive and ‘non-human’ animal models in preclinical anticancer drug development

Three-dimensional bioprinting for bone tissue regeneration

Three-dimensional bioprinting can prove to be a promising technology for bone tissue regeneration as it facilitates good spatio-temporal distribution of cells in scaffold. The feed for bioprinting is bioink, which comprises of cells incorporated in the scaffold material. Progress has been made on the incorporation of growth factors in the bioink, which not only enables efficient regeneration but at the same time proves the feasibility of large constructs. Important parameters which determine the suitability of bioink have been discussed here. Lack of vascularization limits the success of this technology in its present form. Advances in inducing vascularization and growth factors have also been discussed. Towards the end, challenges and opinions in the area of bioprinting of bone tissue regeneration have been presented

Indirect co-culture of lung carcinoma cells with hyperthermia-treated mesenchymal stem cells influences tumor spheroid growth in a collagen-based 3-dimensional microfluidic model

Background: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have paradoxically been reported to exert either pro- or anti-tumor effects in vitro. Hyperthermia, in combination with chemotherapy, has tumor-inhibiting effects; however, its role, together with MSCs, so far is not well understood. Furthermore, a lot of research is conducted using conventional 2-dimensional in vitro models that do not mimic the actual tumor microenvironment. Aim: In light of this fact, an indirect method of co-culturing human amniotic membrane-derived MSCs (AMMSCs) with collagen-encapsulated human lung carcinoma cells (A549) was performed using a 3-dimensional (3D) tumor-on-chip device. Methods: The conditioned medium of AMMSCs (AMMSC-CM) or heat-treated AMMSCs (heat-AMMSC-CM) was utilized to create indirect co-culture conditions. Tumor spheroid growth characterization, immunocytochemistry and cytotoxicity assays, and anti-cancer peptide (P1) screening were performed to determine the effects of the conditioned medium. Results: The A549 cells cultured inside the 3D microfluidic chip developed into multicellular tumor spheroids over five days of culture. The AMMSC-CM, contrary to previous reports claiming its tumor-inhibiting potential, led to significant proliferation of tumor spheroids. Heat-AMMSC-CM led to reductions in both spheroid diameter and cell proliferation. The medium containing the P1 peptide was found to be the least cytotoxic to tumor spheroids in co-culture compared with the monoculture and heat-co-culture groups. Conclusions: Hyperthermia, in combination with the anticancer peptide, exhibited highest cytotoxic effects. This study highlights the growing importance of 3D microfluidic tumor models for testing stem-cell-based and other anti-cancer therapies