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. 2021 Oct 14;18(20):10806. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182010806

Table 3.

Remarkable achievements in 3D bioprinting of pancreatic tissue.

Tissue Cell Type Biomaterial Printed Model Outcome Reference
Pancreas
Human pancreatic islet cells Polylactic acid functionalized with growth factor-enriched platelet gel 3D printed construct
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    Adequate and prompt vascularization of the graft

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    Vascularization enhancement by functionalized scaffold’s ability to dispense proangiogenic factors, such as VEGF, also known to increase islet viability and function

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    Avoiding surgical retrieval due to the transcutaneous refillability of the device

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    Significant advantage in the case of children with diabetes

Farina et al. 2017
Pancreatic cancer cells (Patu8902) and activated pancreatic fibroblast cells (PS1) Nanoshuttle (NS) composed of iron oxide, poly L-lysine and gold nanoparticles In vitro pancreatic tumor model
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    3D spheroids based on pancreatic cancer cells and activated pancreatic fibroblasts (400–600 μm in diameter) obtained by magnetic bioprinting

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    Quick, easily adaptable and consistent, able to resemble the in vivo tumor microenvironment, comparatively inexpensive method

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    Efficient tool for the tumor biology and drug screening studies

Noel et al. 2017
Human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line HT-29, human pancreatic epithelial carcinoma cell line PANC-1 Nanoshuttle (NS) composed of iron oxide, poly L-lysine and gold nanoparticles Primary pancreatic organoid tumor models
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    Development of an efficient high-throughput screening (HTS) method for the production of organoids, by combining the use of a cell-repellent surface with a magnetic force-based bioprinting technology

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    Validation by investigating the anticancer agents’ effects against four patient-derived pancreatic cancer KRAS mutant-associated primary cells

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    Cytotoxicity pilot screen of ~3300 approved drugs

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    Readily applicability to support large-scale clinical drug screening on ex vivo 3D tumor models directly harvested from patients

Hou et al. 2018
Pancreatic cancer cell lines, i.e., MIA PaCa-2 and PANC-1 NanoShuttle nanoparticles (Nano3D Biosciences Inc., Houston, TX, USA) Spheroids from MIA PaCa-2 and PANC-1 cells, mixed with human fibroblasts in a ratio of 1:1, and incubated with NanoShuttle nanoparticles
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    The greatest effect on tumor spheroid growth in both cell lines with the combinations of ICPD47, inhibitor of Hsp90 (heat shock protein 90) with the antimetabolites gemcitabine (GEM) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in a ratio of 1:5

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    Significant dropping of the EC50 value in PANC-1 cell line from 4.04 ± 0.046 to 1.68 ± 0.004 μM, in the case of the ICPD47 combination with mild hyperthermia

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    Synergistic action of the Hsp90 inhibitors, i.e., ICPD47 and ICPD62, with GEM, 5-FU and the topoisomerase inhibitor doxorubicin (DOX), under the same conditions

Daunys et al. 2019
Human primary pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs), human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), HMF, subcutaneous preadipocytes(SPA), and MCF-7 cells Alginate-containing hydrogel
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    Application of 3D bioprinting to generate multicellular, architecturally defined, scaffold-free tissue models of human tumors

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    Use of Organovo’s Novogen MMX Bioprinter Platform to print structures composed of a cancer cell core surrounded by several stromal cell types

Langer et al. 2019
AR42J-B-13 rat acinar cell line Methacrylated gelatin (GELMA) Laser-assisted bioprinted 3D pancreatic cell spheroid arrays
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    Suitability of the laser-assisted bioprinting to generate cellular spheroid arrays with high control over cell number deposition and spatial resolution

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    Replication of the initial stages of the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma by means of the bioprinted miniaturized spheroid-based array model, composed of both acinar and ductal cells

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    Utility of the model to study the internal and external factors that contribute to the precursor PDAC lesions formation and to cancer progression

Hakobyan et al. 2020