Page 236 - IJB-10-3

International

Journal of Bioprinting

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Increased stiffness of extracellular matrix

enhanced chemoresistance in 3D-bioprinted
ovarian cancer model

Ying Shan , Mingchang Pang , Liqian Wang , Yixin Mao , Ruiyi Yan , Chang
1†
2†
4†
2
3†
Zhou , Jingyuan Ji , Yilei Mao , Ying Jin *, and Huayu Yang *
5
5
2
2
1
1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National Clinical Research Center for Obstetric &
Gynecologic Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical
Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
2 Department of Liver Surgery, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical
Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
3 Department of Gynecology, The Affiliated Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital of Qingdao University,
Yantai, China
4 Department of Geriatrics, Shanghai Eighth Peoples Hospital, Shanghai, China
5 Biomanufacturing Center, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing,
China
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Bioprinting process for tumor model development)
Abstract
Ovarian cancer is a gynecological malignancy with a high mortality rate. The ovarian
cancer microenvironment is a crucial factor affecting the overall and progression-free
† These authors contributed equally survival rates of patients with ovarian cancer. The biophysical factors of the tumor
to this work.
microenvironment, such as stiffness, can affect the gene expression and behavior of
*Corresponding authors: tumor cells. In this study, we utilized 3D bioprinting technology to construct ovarian
Huayu Yang
(dolphinyahy@hotmail.com) cancer tumor models with varying levels of stiffness in vitro to investigate the effect of
Ying Jin (jinying@pumch.cn) extracellular matrix stiffness on drug resistance of tumor cells. Our findings indicate
that increasing the stiffness of extracellular matrix can attenuate the sensitivity of
Citation: Shan Y, Pang M, Wang tumor cells to chemotherapeutic agents. Additionally, the increased stiffness of 3D
L, et al. Increased stiffness of
extracellular matrix enhanced tumor model may promote malignant phenotypes, such as tumor stemness and
chemoresistance in 3D-bioprinted tumor progression.
ovarian cancer model. Int J Bioprint.
2024;10(3):1673.
doi: 10.36922/ijb.1673 Keywords: 3D bioprinting technology; Ovarian cancer; Tumor microenvironment;
Received: August 24, 2023 Stiffness; Drug resistance
Accepted: November 21, 2023
Published Online: January 18, 2024
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s).
This is an Open Access article 1. Introduction
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution Ovarian cancer is the most fatal gynecological malignancy with a high mortality/
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, morbidity ratio primarily attributed to the lack of specific symptoms and effective early
provided the original work is screening strategies. Despite advances in cancer treatment, survival rates for ovarian
1
properly cited. cancer have remained largely unchanged, even in medically advanced countries such
Publisher’s Note: AccScience as the United States and Canada, where only about 47% of patients survive five years
Publishing remains neutral with after diagnosis. Currently, cytoreductive surgery and cisplatin-based chemotherapy
2
regard to jurisdictional claims in 3,4
published maps and institutional remain the preferred treatment options, while the continuous development and
affiliations. updates in immunotherapy, targeted therapy, and combinatorial chemotherapy offer

Volume 10 Issue 3 (2024) 228 doi: 10.36922/ijb.1673