Fibroblasts play an important role in the human body, as they synthesize extracellular tissue and collagen, which are the structural framework for connective tissue, and it is believed that cancerous tumors can use nearby fibroblasts to promote their growth and spread.
This process, called cancer-associated fibroblast activation, can also protect tumors from chemotherapy, making treatment more difficult.
Therefore, stopping this process represents a therapeutic goal that would slow down the growth of cancerous tumors.
In pursuit of this therapeutic goal, researchers from Taiwan developed a 3D cell culture system to test how inhibition of fibroblasts might help treat lung cancer.
And they found that mixing the anti-fibrosis drug “Nintedanib” with the anti-cancer drug “Cisplatin” increases the effectiveness of the latter, according to a study published Tuesday in the APL Bioengineering Journal.
simulation
Zhao Huangli, lead researcher of the study, says that nearly 90 percent of deaths in lung cancer patients in the late stages of the disease are caused by tumors spreading to other organs, not the primary tumor. Therefore, it is necessary to find ways to prevent tumor spread to extend the life of patients. Lung Cancer.
Lee explains to Sky News Arabia the benefits of the proposed approach to inhibiting fibroblasts, saying:
To simulate the tumor microenvironment and mimic real tissues, we developed a 3D system for culturing fibroblasts and tumor cell spheroids in a hydrogel composed of matrigel and fibrin.
– This system allows for cell-cell interactions in three dimensions, in contrast to the flat environment of two-dimensional culture.
Our study reveals that the addition of an anti-fibrotic drug, nintedanib, improved the effectiveness of an anti-cancer drug, cisplatin, in stopping the growth and spread of cultured lung cancer cells.
– The main challenge was the replication of 3D culture systems because they are more difficult to handle than 2D cultures. We spent a lot of time building an experimental protocol to ensure that the experimental results were reproducible and comparable.
The co-culture system can be useful for evaluating the effects of drug combinations on tumors related to fibrosis, such as pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, and oral cancer.
In future studies, we plan to apply this approach to oral cancer. Further studies could lead to an understanding of the roles of genes in the tumor microenvironment, and enhance our understanding of their potential impact on the development of lung cancer.
The researchers hope that this study will pave the way for the development of more effective treatment strategies for lung cancer and other solid tumors, and that it will be a promising new tool for preclinical drug testing.
