Enrichment of Patient Derived Glioblastoma Stem Cells in Three-Dimensional PNIPAAm Scaffolds

摘要

Conclusions: These experiments provide rigorous, multifaceted evidence that PNJ scaffolds actively enrich functional GSC phenotypes in both proneural (GB3) and classical (GB7) subtypes of patient derived GBM cells. Our data indicate a mechanism of stem enrichment consistent with increased nutrient access and interaction with a 3D TME. Unlike traditional approaches that have used natural materials to study proliferation or invasion, our synthetic system provides an innovative opportunity to model the nutrient-rich perivascular TME, which maintains GSCs in vivo and is believed to contribute to tumor recurrence following conventional radiation therapy. Importantly, this new material platform holds potential for broader application, either for higher throughput in vitro analyses of patient derived GBM, or to study stem cell biology in the perivascular niche in other cancer types.