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Elastin-like Recombinamer Hydrogels as Platforms for Breast Cancer Modeling

Blanco-Fernandez, Barbara ; Ibañez-Fonseca, Arturo LU orcid ; Orbanic, Doriana LU ; Ximenes-Carballo, Celia ; Perez-Amodio, Soledad ; Rodríguez-Cabello, Jose Carlos and Engel, Elisabeth (2023) In Biomacromolecules 24(10). p.4408-4418
Abstract

The involvement of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in tumor progression has motivated the development of biomaterials mimicking the tumor ECM to develop more predictive cancer models. Particularly, polypeptides based on elastin could be an interesting approach to mimic the ECM due to their tunable properties. Here, we demonstrated that elastin-like recombinamer (ELR) hydrogels can be suitable biomaterials to develop breast cancer models. This hydrogel was formed by two ELR polypeptides, one containing sequences biodegradable by matrix metalloproteinase and cyclooctyne and the other carrying arginylglycylaspartic acid and azide groups to allow cell adhesion, biodegradability, and suitable stiffness through "click-chemistry" cross-linking.... (More)

The involvement of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in tumor progression has motivated the development of biomaterials mimicking the tumor ECM to develop more predictive cancer models. Particularly, polypeptides based on elastin could be an interesting approach to mimic the ECM due to their tunable properties. Here, we demonstrated that elastin-like recombinamer (ELR) hydrogels can be suitable biomaterials to develop breast cancer models. This hydrogel was formed by two ELR polypeptides, one containing sequences biodegradable by matrix metalloproteinase and cyclooctyne and the other carrying arginylglycylaspartic acid and azide groups to allow cell adhesion, biodegradability, and suitable stiffness through "click-chemistry" cross-linking. Our findings show that breast cancer or nontumorigenic breast cells showed high viability and cell proliferation for up to 7 days. MCF7 and MCF10A formed spheroids whereas MDA-MB-231 formed cell networks, with the expression of ECM and high drug resistance in all cases, evidencing that ELR hydrogels are a promising biomaterial for breast cancer modeling.

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author
; ; ; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
keywords
Humans, Female, Hydrogels/pharmacology, Elastin/chemistry, Breast Neoplasms/drug therapy, Biocompatible Materials, Peptides, Extracellular Matrix
in
Biomacromolecules
volume
24
issue
10
pages
4408 - 4418
publisher
The American Chemical Society (ACS)
external identifiers
  • pmid:36597885
  • scopus:85146029882
ISSN
1526-4602
DOI
10.1021/acs.biomac.2c01080
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
db7da58b-71aa-46ed-9148-ef51944d74c9
date added to LUP
2025-09-14 12:02:09
date last changed
2025-10-14 13:01:38
@article{db7da58b-71aa-46ed-9148-ef51944d74c9,
  abstract     = {{<p>The involvement of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in tumor progression has motivated the development of biomaterials mimicking the tumor ECM to develop more predictive cancer models. Particularly, polypeptides based on elastin could be an interesting approach to mimic the ECM due to their tunable properties. Here, we demonstrated that elastin-like recombinamer (ELR) hydrogels can be suitable biomaterials to develop breast cancer models. This hydrogel was formed by two ELR polypeptides, one containing sequences biodegradable by matrix metalloproteinase and cyclooctyne and the other carrying arginylglycylaspartic acid and azide groups to allow cell adhesion, biodegradability, and suitable stiffness through "click-chemistry" cross-linking. Our findings show that breast cancer or nontumorigenic breast cells showed high viability and cell proliferation for up to 7 days. MCF7 and MCF10A formed spheroids whereas MDA-MB-231 formed cell networks, with the expression of ECM and high drug resistance in all cases, evidencing that ELR hydrogels are a promising biomaterial for breast cancer modeling.</p>}},
  author       = {{Blanco-Fernandez, Barbara and Ibañez-Fonseca, Arturo and Orbanic, Doriana and Ximenes-Carballo, Celia and Perez-Amodio, Soledad and Rodríguez-Cabello, Jose Carlos and Engel, Elisabeth}},
  issn         = {{1526-4602}},
  keywords     = {{Humans; Female; Hydrogels/pharmacology; Elastin/chemistry; Breast Neoplasms/drug therapy; Biocompatible Materials; Peptides; Extracellular Matrix}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  number       = {{10}},
  pages        = {{4408--4418}},
  publisher    = {{The American Chemical Society (ACS)}},
  series       = {{Biomacromolecules}},
  title        = {{Elastin-like Recombinamer Hydrogels as Platforms for Breast Cancer Modeling}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.2c01080}},
  doi          = {{10.1021/acs.biomac.2c01080}},
  volume       = {{24}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}