3D Model of Pancreatic Cancer Fibrosis for the Study of Alterations in the Extracellular Matrix

What is it about?

Pancreatic cancer is characterized by intratumoral fibrosis, which renders it refractory to treatment with chemotherapy. Alterations in the extracellular matrix, structural components surrounding cells, are thought to be important in this process. However, how these alterations arise are incompletely understood, partly due to the lack of in vitro models of fibrosis. This paper reports the generation of an easy-to-perform, in vitro model of fibrosis (using pancreatic stellate cells--the main constituent of fibrosis in pancreatic cancer) with clinically relevant thickness.

Featured Image