Cancer is one of the leading causes of death both in the United States and worldwide. The dynamic microenvironment in which tumors grow consists of fibroblasts, immune cells, extracellular matrix (ECM), and cytokines that enable progression and metastasis. Novel biomaterials that mimic these complex surroundings give insight into the biological, chemical, and physical environment that cause cancer cells to metastasize and invade into other tissues. Two-dimensional (2D) cultures are useful for gaining limited information about cancer cell behavior; however, they do not accurately represent the environments that cells experience in vivo. Recent advances in the design and tunability of diverse three-dimensional (3D) biomaterials complement biological knowledge and allow for improved recapitulation of in vivo conditions. Understanding cell-ECM and cell-cell interactions that facilitate tumor survival will accelerate the design of more effective therapies. This review discusses innovative materials currently being used to study tumor and immune cell behavior and interactions, including materials that mimic the ECM composition, mechanical stiffness, and integrin binding sites of the tumor microenvironment.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10439-019-02384-0 | DOI Listing |
Pediatr Dev Pathol
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Division of Pathology, Department of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
An 11-year-old girl presented with a soft tissue lesion on the dorsal aspect of the left middle finger. Ultrasound imaging demonstrated a 2.8 cm × 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Omics
December 2024
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Arlington, Box 19065, 700 Planetarium Place, Room 130, Arlington, TX 76019, USA.
Designing reagents for protein labeling is crucial for investigating cellular events and developing new therapeutics. Historically, much effort has been focused on labeling lysine and arginine residues due to their abundance on the protein periphery. The chemo-selectivity of these reagents is a challenging yet crucial parameter for deciphering properties specifically associated with the targeted amino acid.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Biophys Rep
March 2025
Department of Physiology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria.
A global decline in male fertility has been reported, and climate change is considered a major cause of this. Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns, and results from greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide and methane that act as a blanket wrapped around the earth, trapping heat and elevating temperatures. Sad to say, the consequences of climatic variation are beyond the dramatic elevated temperature, they include cold stress, increased malnutrition, air pollution, cardiovascular diseases respiratory tract infections, cancer, sexually transmitted infections, mental stress, and heat waves.
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December 2024
Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
Whole-mount hybridization (WISH) is a widely used method that supports the concept of "seeing is believing" by enabling the visualization of gene expression patterns in whole-mount multicellular samples or sections. This technique is essential in the study of epimorphic regeneration in cold-blooded vertebrates, where complex three-dimensional organs such as tails, limbs, and eyes are completely restored after loss. The tadpoles of the frog serve as a convenient model for studying regeneration, as they can regenerate their tails within a week after amputation.
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Department of Otolaryngology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of the Army Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
MS4A (membrane-spanning 4-domain, subfamily A) molecules are categorized into tetraspanins, which possess four-transmembrane structures. To date, eighteen MS4A members have been identified in humans, whereas twenty-three different molecules have been identified in mice. MS4A proteins are selectively expressed on the surfaces of various immune cells, such as B cells (MS4A1), mast cells (MS4A2), macrophages (MS4A4A), Foxp3CD4 regulatory T cells (MS4A4B), and type 3 innate lymphoid cells (TMEM176A and TMEM176B).
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