New dimensions in vascular engineering: opportunities for cancer biology.
Angiogenesis is a fundamental prerequisite for tissue growth and thus an attractive target for cancer therapeutics. However, current efforts to halt tumor growth using antiangiogenic agents have been met with limited success. A reason for this may be that studies aimed at understanding tissue and organ formation have to this point utilized two-dimensional cell culture techniques, which fail to faithfully mimic the pathological architecture of disease in an in vivo context. In this issue of Tissue Engineering, the work of Fischbach-Teschl's group manipulate such variables as oxygen concentration, culture three-dimensionality, and cell-extracellular matrix interactions to more closely approximate the biophysical and biochemical microenvironment of tumor angiogenesis. In this article, we discuss how novel tissue engineering platforms provide a framework for the study of tumorigenesis under pathophysiologically relevant in vitro culture conditions.
Rabbany
Sina Y
SY
Department of Genetic Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, New York, New York 10065, USA. sir2007@med.cornell.edu
James
Daylon
D
Rafii
Shahin
S
D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000473:pathology*; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic; D044968:Regenerative Medicine; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds