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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Mater. 2018 Sep 6;3(11):418–430.

Fig. 3 |. Next-generation material-based cancer technologies.

Fig. 3 |

The specific interactions between cancer cells and the tumour stroma can be exploited for the detection of cancer cells. a | Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or positron emission tomography (PET) contrast agents can be conjugated with extracellular matrix (ECM)-affinity peptides to create specific probes to target the dense ECM of the tumour stroma for the detection of mature tumours in vivo. b | Implantable scaffolds can be used to recreate a pre-metastatic niche at the implant site, recruiting cells for capture and therapy and at the same time lowering the tumour burden in typical secondary metastasis sites. c,d | Confinement assays or adhesion assays can be applied to test cells obtained from tumour biopsy samples for their aggressiveness by measuring cellular deformation or adhesion to specific ECM molecules. Omega (ω) is the angular velocity that defines the shear stress applied to cells. e | Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) can be isolated from patient blood samples using nanotopography assays that take advantage of the affinity of CTCs for nano-roughed substrates.