The Humane Research Trust is funding a research project to recreate the complexity of pancreatic cancer in the lab. Scientists at University College London (UCL) will use synthetic materials to simulate the tumour microenvironment. By combining this matrix with human pancreatic cancer cells, the scientists will investigate the cell interactions that could contribute to tumour development. They hope a better understanding of the disease progression will reveal targets for potential therapeutics.
The pancreas is the organ responsible for the production of important hormones like insulin, and also assists in food digestion. Cancer of the pancreas is the 10th most common cancer in the UK, affecting over 10,000 people every year. Unfortunately, the survival rate for pancreatic cancer is extremely low, and has remained fairly stagnant for the past 50 years. In its early stages, pancreatic cancer is difficult to detect. As a result, it tends to only be discovered at advanced stages.
Additionally, scientists think the complexity of the pancreas is also a contributing factor to the lack of suitable treatments. “The pancreatic tumour/tissue microenvironment is complex and highly heterogeneous,” says Prof Eirini Velliou, Professor of Bioengineering at UCL.
This microenvironment is the ecosystem around a tumour, comprised of a cocktail of cellular, biochemical and biomechanical components. This includes both cancerous and non-cancerous cells, tissue structures, and proteins that provide structural support and facilitate cell-cell communication. Scientists think that this ecosystem and the complex interactions that take place within it support the tumour’s growth, causing treatment resistance.
So, modelling pancreatic cancer in the lab effectively requires capturing the complexity of the tumour microenvironment. Previously, this was mostly done in live animals, but 3D cell culture models are increasingly showing promise.
“Animal models are time consuming and expensive to generate and maintain. Furthermore, the severity of some animal models, particularly the metastatic ones, implies great suffering in the animals. And yet it's still far from simulating the patient situation,” explains Prof Velliou.
The Humane Research Trust is funding a research project at UCL to recreate pancreatic cancer and its surrounding microenvironment. They will use an innovative 3D cell culture model to examine the role of proteins on disease progression.
Led by Prof Velliou, the scientists will use synthetic amino acids and peptides to replicate the tumour's extracellular matrix. Using this model, the scientists can separate and organise cells in a way that is similar to real tumour tissue.
By combining this approach with human pancreatic tumour cells, the scientists can accurately recreate pancreatic cancer in their lab. This will ensure accurate mimicry of the tumour microenvironment in their model, assisting in developing better drugs for this deadly cancer.
“The development of this synthetic, spatially advanced 3D model of pancreatic cancer will enable a significant reduction in the use of animals and animal-derived products in research. Furthermore, it will also serve as a sophisticated platform to unravel the role of individual amino acids and peptides on cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions,” says Prof Velliou. “Such studies are impossible with currently available models. This research will contribute to a fundamental understanding of the disease’s progression, as well as to the development of advanced treatments."
