3D Bioprinting of Breast Cancer Models for Drug Resistance Study

Adipose derived mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (ADMSC) are one of the major stromal cells in the breast cancer microenvironment to promote cancer progression. Previous studies using two-dimensional (2D) cultures on the effects of ADMSC on breast cancer metastasis and drug resistance remained inconclusive. In the present study, we compared co-cultured ADMSC and 21PT (human epidermal receptor 2 positive breast primary breast cancer cells) in 2D and three-dimensional (3D) cultures and then examined their response to doxorubicin (DOX). We examined 3D bioprinted constructs with breast cancer cells in the middle and ADMSC in the edge region by using dual hydrogel based bioinks. We found that the percentage of cleaved Caspase-3 positive cells was significantly lower in the bioprinted constructs with ADMSC and 21PT than that in the cancer cell alone constructs in response to low DOX dose. We further increased the thickness of ADMSC layers to mimic the status of obesity and then examined the effect of ADMSC thickn...