Can tissue engineering concepts advance tumor biology research?
Advances in tissue engineering have traditionally led to the design of scaffold- or matrix-based culture systems that better reflect the biological, physical and biochemical environment of the natural extracellular matrix. Although their clinical applications in regenerative medicine tend to receive most of the attention, it is obvious that other areas of biomedical research could be well served by the powerful tools that have already been developed in tissue engineering. In this article, we review the recent literature to demonstrate how tissue engineering platforms can enhance in vitro and in vivo models of tumorigenesis and thus hold great promise to contribute to future cancer research.
Hutmacher
Dietmar W
DW
Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, Queensland 4059, Australia. dietmar.hutmacher@qut.edu.au
Loessner
Daniela
D
Rizzi
Simone
S
Kaplan
David L
DL
Mooney
David J
DJ
Clements
Judith A
JA
D000818:Animals; D019149:Bioreactors; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D046509:Tissue Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds