Decellularized breast matrix as bioactive microenvironment for in vitro three-dimensional cancer culture.

Breast cancer (BC) is a leading cause of cancer-related death in women with unsatisfactory survival rates. Advances in the understanding of the genetic basis of BC provide the opportunity to develop gene-based medicines capable of treating metastatic diseases. Here, we first demonstrated efficient tissue engineering approaches applied to normal breast and BC extracellular matrix (ECM) starting from decellularized human biopsies to generate a three-dimensional (3D) bioactive model with the sodium lauryl ether sulfate solution. The decellularized tissues maximized the genetic component removal from tissues and minimally injured ECM structures and native compositions by histology and ECM compositions analyses. Importantly, we proved that the 3D ECM retained tissues biological properties. We demonstrated that after 30 days of recellularization with MCF-7 cell (human breast adenocarcinoma cell line), the 3D cancer ECM induced an overexpression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer proliferation. Meanwhile, normal ECM from the breast inhibited EMT and cell growth with the inducement of apoptosis. Given the biological activity preserved in the ECM after decellularization, we believe these approaches are powerful tools for future preclinical research for BC and breast development.

Effect of sodium alginate on mouse ovary vitrification.

The survival rate of vitrified-thawed ovarian tissues after autotransplantation still needs to be improved. Therefore finding an ideal cryoprectant to reduce the damage to ovaries that caused by vitrification will pave the way for application of ovary cryopreservation on clinics. Experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of sodium alginate in cryoprotectant solution on mouse ovaries during the vitrification process. The ovaries obtained from 6-weeks old CD1 were assigned into six groups from A to F. Group A without treatment was used as the normal control. Group B cryopreserved with the basic cryoprotectant solution containing 15% each Me2SO and EG was used as the experimental control. Groups C, D, E, and F cryopreserved with the basic cryoprotectant solution supplemented with 0.05%, 0.10%, 0.15%, and 0.20% of sodium alginate, respectively, were assigned for the experimental groups. The in vitro analyses showed that the developmental capability of the oocytes isolated from vitrified-thawed ovaries significantly increased with increasing concentration of sodium alginate in the cryoprotectant solution (groups: A = 70 ±â€¯2; B = 43 ±â€¯2; C = 48 ±â€¯3; D = 53 ±â€¯3; E = 60 ±â€¯3; B < C < D < A, P < 0.05), and reached its highest level in group E with 0.15% of sodium alginate (P < 0.05). The lowest developmental capability of all groups was group F (41 ±â€¯1%)(P < 0.05) with 0.20% of sodium alginate. The similar results were obtained by the autotransplantation in vivo. These finding demonstrated that sodium alginate can significantly reduce the damage to ovaries by vitrification.