A novel platform for drug testing: Biomimetic three-dimensional hyaluronic acid-based scaffold seeded with human hepatocarcinoma cells.

Hepatic cancer is one of the most widespread maladies worldwide that requires urgent therapies and thus reliable means for testing anti-cancer drugs. The switch from two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) cell cultures produced an improvement in the in vitro outcomes for testing anti-cancer drugs. We aimed to develop a novel hyaluronic acid (HA)-based 3D cell model of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2 cells) for drug testing and to assess comparatively in 3D vs. 2D, the cytotoxicity and the apoptotic response to the anti-tumor agent, cisplatin. The 3D model was developed by seeding HepG2 cells in a HA/poly(methylvinylether-alt-maleic acid) (HAP50)-based scaffold. Compared to 2D, the cells grown in the HAP50 scaffold proliferate into larger-cellular aggregates that exhibit liver-like functions by controlling the release of hepatocyte-specific biomarkers (albumin, urea, bile acids, transaminases) and the synthesis of cytochrome-P450 (CYP)7A1 enzyme. Also, growing the cells in the scaffold sensitize the hepatocytes to the anti-tumor effect of cisplatin, by a mechanism involving the activation of ERK/p38α-MAPK and dysregulation of NF-kB/STAT3/Bcl-2 pathways. In conclusion, the newly developed HA-based 3D model is suitable for chemotherapeutic drug testing on hepatocellular carcinoma. Moreover, the system can be adapted and employed as experimental platform functioning as a proper tissue/tumor surrogate.