Table 1.
Naturally derived and synthetic matrices for 3D tumor engineering.
| Type of materials | Properties | Tumor types/Cell lines | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fibroblast-derived matrices | Produced mainly by cancer associated fibroblasts. Mimic microenvironment in advanced carcinomas. | Human colorectal carcinoma/HCT116 Human pancreatic carcinoma/PANC-1 |
Serebriiskii et al. (2008) |
| Matrigel™ or Cultrex® | Basement membrane extracts consisting of collagen type IV, laminin, perlecan, etc. | Human colon adenocarcinoma/SW480 Human breast adenocarcinoma/MDA-MB-231 |
Price et al. (2012) Poincloux et al. (2011) |
| Type I collagen | Native ECM component produced by cells in the stromal environment. Influences the growth and metastasis of resident tumor cells. | Human breast carcinoma/MCF-7 Human hepatocellular liver carcinoma/HepG2 |
Chen et al. (2012) Yip and Cho (2013) |
| Silk fibroin | Unique mechanical properties, good biocompatibility, well-controlled degradability and versatile processability. | Human breast adenocarcinoma/MDA-MB-231 | Talukdar and Kundu (2012) |
| Alginate | Biodegradable hydrogels with controlled mechanical properties and pore sizes. Non-adhesive to cells. | Human hepatocellular carcinoma/MHCC97L, HCCLM3 Oral squamous cell carcinoma/OSCC-3 |
Xu et al. (2013) Fischbach et al. (2009) |
| Hyaluronic acid | Essential ECM component in the tumor microenvironment. Interacts with its cell surface receptors, such as CD44 or RHAMM. Involved in tumor expansion, angiogenesis and metastasis. | Human prostate cancer/LNCaP Human glioma/U87MG |
Xu et al. (2012a) Xu et al. (2014) Pedron et al. (2013) |
| PEG | Synthetic matrices with controllable biochemical and mechanical properties. Specific biological functionalities can be covalently incorporated into the PEG hydrogels. | Human epithelial ovarian cancer/OV-MZ-6 Human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma/PANC-1 |
Loessner et al. (2010) Ki et al. (2013) |
| PLGA | Porous biodegradable synthetic scaffolds. Convenient to handle and amenable to large-scale use. | Oral squamous cell carcinoma/OSCC-3 Human glioma/U251 |
Fischbach et al. (2007) Kim et al. (2011) |
| PCL | Biologically inert synthetic scaffolds. Medical grade PCL-tricalcium phosphate (mPCL-TCP) scaffolds can be used to study bone metastasis. | Ewing sarcoma/TC-71 Prostate cancer/PC3 and LNCaP |
Fong et al. (2013) Sieh et al. (2010) |
| Synthetic peptides | Defined amino acid composition for facile incorporation of specific biological relevant ligands. | Human ovarian carcinoma/SK-OV-3 Human breast carcinoma/MCF-7 |
Yang and Zhao (2011) Huang et al. (2013) |