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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Apr 22.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Biomed Eng. 2018 Oct 22;2(12):915–929. doi: 10.1038/s41551-018-0307-x

Fig. 2. Humanized implantable microenvironments recapitulate tumor cell receptive and supportive functions of the pre-metastatic niche.

Fig. 2.

a, Experimental schematic describing establishment of an orthotopic xenograft tumor and subsequent metastasis. b, Gross images of the orthotopic xenograft PC-3 human prostate tumor and liver metastasis. Arrows indicate overt metastatic nodules. c, IHS images of dissemination and colonization of DTCs in vital organs including the liver, lung, bone marrow and spleen. Micrometastatses commonly appeared in the liver and lung while DTCs remained mostly in an individual state in the bone marrow and spleen. d, IHS of implantable pre-metastatic niche showed both single and colonized DTCs. Green arrow indicates single DTC. Similar patterns of primary tumor xenograft and tissue and scaffold metastasis were confirmed from 3 independent experiments.