Protease-Degradable Polyethylene Glycol Maleimide Microgels for Studying Lymphoid Tumor Growth and Survival

摘要

To date it remains unknown how tumor size and the tumor microenvironment together modulate the growth and therapeutic response in lymphomas. We have engineered a PEG-MAL based microgel system that provides a designer 3D niche to human DLBCL tumors by incorporating lymphoma-specific integrin ligands and protease degradable crosslinkers. We envision that these microgels will enable studies along better understanding DLBCL heterogeneity and resistance towards conventional and new classes of therapeutics. This system allows for high throughput and reproducible production of lymphoid gel for studying the role of the lymphoma cell density and the microenvironment with smaller cell numbers than other approaches.