Project description:Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) represents a significant and growing public health concern worldwide, characterized by hepatic steatosis, inflammation, and varying degrees of fibrosis. In vitro models of NASH play a crucial role in elucidating the underlying mechanisms of disease pathogenesis, identifying potential therapeutic targets, and evaluating the efficacy of pharmacological interventions. Several preclinical models of MASH have been developed and are being used extensively to study these areas. While standard cell culture models allow for elucidation of certain molecular pathways involved in MASH pathogenesis, they lack three-dimensional architecture and cellular heterogeneity observed in native liver tissue, potentially limiting their physiological relevance and inability to fully capture the multifactorial nature of the disease Precision cut liver slices from MASH livers retain the complex multicellular architecture of the liver including hepatocyte arrangement, sinusoidal structure, and cellular interactions, but the metabolism deteriorates over a short period of time (usually reported as 2 days). Human liver organoids from iPSCs (induced pluripotent stem cells) retain the genetics of the patients but fail to fully differentiate into hepatocytes or have the liver architecture. Human liver spheroids incubated in a MASH cocktail develop several phenotypic characteristics of a MASH liver, but the small spheroid size precludes extensive histological comparisons to MASH livers. Microphysiological systems (MPS) or “liver on a chip” in which 3D cultures are perfused, maintain many of the physiological functions of the liver owing to precise control over microenvironmental parameters, including fluid flow, nutrient gradients, and mechanical cues. However, MPS are difficult to scale up and have not been developed to reproduce a MASH phenotype. In comparison, bioprinted liver tissues for MASH have many advantages. Organovo’s 3D bioprinted liver tissues are comprised of all major primary liver cells including hepatocytes, endothelial cells, stellates and Kupffer cells, mixed in physiologically relevant ratios. These cells are then bioprinted in precise pre-defined liver specific geometries to recapitulate complexity of the hepatic microenvironment.. This mimicking of tissue architecture enables more accurate representation of cellular interactions, spatial organization, and microenvironmental cues crucial for MASH pathogenesis. The liver tissues developed using this method maintain differentiation and metabolism over several weeks. In this paper, we further demonstrated that upon treatment with a MASH induction cocktail, these liver tissues respond accurately by developing steatosis and fibrosis Tissue response varies depending in response to the complexity of the MASH cocktail.
Project description:Brain tumors are dynamic complex ecosystems with multiple cell types. To model the brain tumor microenvironment in a reproducible and scalable system, we developed a rapid three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting method to construct clinically relevant biomimetic tissue models. In recurrent glioblastoma, macrophages/microglia prominently contribute to the tumor mass. To parse the function of macrophages in 3D, we compared the growth of glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) alone or with astrocytes and neural precursor cells (NPCs) in a hyaluronic acid (HA)-rich hydrogel, with or without macrophages. Bioprinted constructs integrating macrophage recapitulate patient-derived transcriptional profiles predictive of patient survival, maintenance of stemness, invasion, and drug resistance. Whole genome CRISPR screening with bioprinted complex systems identified unique molecular dependencies in GSCs, relative to sphere culture. Multicellular bioprinted models serve as a scalable and physiologic platform to interrogate drug sensitivity, cellular crosstalk, invasion, context-dependent functional dependencies, as well as immunologic interactions in a species-matched neural environment.
Project description:Bioprinting is an emerging additive manufacturing approach to the fabrication of patient-specific, implantable three-dimensional (3D) constructs for regenerative medicine. However, developing cell-compatible bioinks with high printability, structural stability, biodegradability, and bioactive characteristics is still a primary challenge for translating 3D bioprinting technology to preclinical and clinal models. To overcome this challenge, we develop a nanoengineered ionic covalent entanglement (NICE) bioink formulation for 3D bone bioprinting. The NICE bioinks allow precise control over printability, mechanical properties, and degradation characteristics, enabling custom 3D fabrication of mechanically resilient, cellularized structures. We demonstrate cell- induced remodeling of 3D bioprinted scaffolds over 60 days, demonstrating deposition of nascent extracellular matrix proteins. Interestingly, the bioprinted constructs induce endochondral differentiation of encapsulated human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) in absence of osteoinducing agents such as dexamethasone or bone morphogenic protein-2 (BMP-2). Using next-generation transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) technology, we establish the role of nanosilicates, a bioactive component of NICE bioink, to stimulate endochondral differentiation at the transcriptome level. Overall, the osteoinductive bioink has the ability to induce formation of osteo-related mineralized extracellular matrix by encapsulatedhMSCsingrowthfactor-freeconditions.Furthermore,wedemonstratedtheabilityofNICEbioinktofabricatepatient-specific, implantable 3D scaffolds for repair of craniomaxillofacial bone defects. We envision transformation of this NICE bioink technology toward a realistic clinical process for 3D bioprinting patient-specific bone tissue for regenerative medicine.
Project description:Cellular extracellular matrix (ECM) and spatial heterogeneity of tumor microenvironments (TME) regulate disease progression and treatment efficacy. Developing in vitro models that recapitulate the TME promises to accelerate studies of tumor biology and identify new targets for therapy. Here, we employed extrusion-based, multi-nozzle three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting to spatially pattern triple-negative MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells, endothelial cells, and human mammary cancer-associated fibroblasts with biomimetic ECM inks. Bioprinted models captured key features of the spatial architecture of human breast tumors, including varying-sized dense regions of cancer cells and surrounding microvessel-rich stroma. Angiogenesis and ECM stiffening occurred in the stromal area but not the cancer cell rich regions, mimicking pathological changes in patient samples. Transcriptomic analyses revealed upregulation of angiogenesis-related and ECM remodeling-related signatures in the stroma region and identified potential ligand-receptor mediators of these processes. Breast cancer cells in distinct parts of the bioprinted TME showed differing sensitivities to chemotherapy, highlighting environmentally mediated drug resistance. In summary, our 3D bioprinted tumor model will act as a platform to discover integrated functions of the TME in cancer biology and therapy.
Project description:We found constitutive upregulation and higher degree induction of drug metabolism and disposition-related genes in a three-dimensional HepG2 culture. The upregulated genes are those believed to be regulated by different regulatory factors. The global gene expression analysis by Affymetrix GeneChip indicated that altered expressions of microtubule-related genes may change expressed levels of drug metabolism and disposition genes. Stabilization of the microtubule molecules with docetaxel, a tubulin stabilizing agent, in the two-dimensional culture showed gene expression patterns similar to those in the three-dimensional culture, indicating that culture environment affects drug metabolism functions in HepG2 cells. Keywords: radial flow bioreactor cell culture system, three dimensional culture, HepG2, GeneChip U133A,
Project description:Interventions: Endoscopic examinations of mucosal membrane using three-dimensional optical coherence tomography probe.
Primary outcome(s): Discrimination ability of mucosal membrane structure. Discrimination ability of cancer tissue.
Study Design: Single arm Non-randomized
Project description:Reliable non-invasive tools to diagnose at risk metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) are urgently needed to improve management. We developed a risk stratification score incorporating proteomics-derived serum markers with clinical variables to identify high risk MASH patients (NAFLD Activity Score (NAS) >4 and fibrosis score >2). In this three-phase proteomic study of biopsy-proven metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic fatty liver disease (MASLD), we first developed a multi-protein predictor for discriminating NAS>4 based on SOMAscan proteomics quantifying 1,305 serum proteins from 57 US patients. Four key predictor proteins were verified by ELISA in the expanded US cohort (N=168), and enhanced by adding clinical variables to create the 9-feature MASH Dx Score which predicted MASH and also high risk MASH (F2+). The MASH Dx Score was validated in two independent, external cohorts from Germany (N=139) and Brazil (N=177). The discovery phase identified a 6-protein classifier that achieved an AUC of 0.93 for identifying MASH. Significant elevation of four proteins (THBS2, GDF15, SELE, IGFBP7) was verified by ELISA in the expanded discovery and independently in the two external cohorts. MASH Dx Score incorporated these proteins with established MASH risk factors (age, BMI, ALT, diabetes, hypertension) to achieve good discrimination between MASH and MASLD without MASH (AUC:0.87- discovery; 0.83- pooled external validation cohorts), with similar performance when evaluating high risk MASH F2-4 (vs. MASH F0-1 and MASLD without MASH). The MASH Dx Score offers the first reliable non-invasive approach combining novel, biologically plausible ELISA-based fibrosis markers and clinical parameters to detect high risk MASH in patient cohorts from the US, Brasil and Europe.
Project description:Canine mammary gland tumors can be used as predictive models for human breast cancer. There are several types of microRNAs common in human breast cancer and canine mammary gland tumors. The functions of microRNAs in canine mammary gland tumors are not well understood. In the present study, we compared the characterization of microRNA expression in two-dimensional and three-dimensional canine mammary gland tumor cell models. The expression of microRNA-210 in the three-dimensional-SNP cells was 10.19 times higher than that in the two-dimensional-SNP cells.