Fully humanised 3D vascular perfused model for breast cancer modelling and therapeutic screening

乳腺癌是影响女性的最常见癌症。科学家们在实验室中使用了一系列模型来研究这一点。这包括在塑料培养皿中培养细胞，或者使用动物模型来模拟乳腺癌的行为。两种模型都不是理想的；在塑料上生长细胞与细胞在人体内的存在方式有很大不同，而用于模拟乳腺癌的动物通常是小鼠，它们与人类有很大的不同。我们希望实施一种更接近患者的乳腺癌模型。这仍然使用在实验室中生长的细胞，但这些细胞的生长方式更类似于它们在人体内的生长方式。细胞在三维环境中生长，目前，这个三维环境中含有动物衍生的物质。在这个项目中，我们希望改变三维环境，使其完全没有任何动物产品。我们可以使用一种叫做水凝胶的物质来实现这一点。我们可以在水凝胶中加入不同的物质，使其与乳腺癌细胞在体内生长的环境相同。一旦我们实现了这一点，我们将使这种环境更接近癌细胞在体内的状态。在人体内，癌细胞有血液供应，使它们能够获得维持生命所需的源源不断的营养。这就是旨在杀死癌细胞的药物也是如何输送的。这在实验室里是很难做到的。我们已经克服了这一点，使用了一种人造血液替代品，我们将把它引入我们的三维环境中。这将产生一种乳腺癌模型，它与乳腺癌细胞在人体内的生长方式有许多相似之处，我们将能够在自己的实验室中常规使用这种模型。我们希望尽可能多的科学家了解并使用这种模型，因此我们将组织培训活动，让来自英国各地的科学家能够接受我们技术的实践培训，这样他们就有信心开始在自己的实验室中使用这种模型。最后，作为大学学者，我们有责任培养下一代科学家，因此将通过讲座和实践环节将这项技术引入我们的教学。

Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women. Scientists use a range of models to study this in the laboratory. This includes growing cells on plastic dishes or using animal models to mimic how breast cancer behaves. Neither model is ideal; growing cells on plastic is very different from how cells exist in the human body, while the animals used to mimic breast cancer are usually mice, which are very different from humans. We wish to implement a closer-to-patient model of breast cancer. This still uses cells growing in the laboratory, but these are growing in a way that is more similar to how they are in the human body. The cells grow in a three-dimensional environment, Currently, this three-dimensional environment contains animal-derived substances. In this project we wish to change the three-dimensional environment to make it completely free of any animal products. We can do this using a substance called a hydrogel. We can add different substances to the hydrogel to make it the same as the environment in which breast cancer cells grow in the body. Once we have achieved this we will make this environment closer still to how cancer cells are in the body. In the body cancer cells have a blood supply which allows them to receive a continuous flow of nutrients required to keep them alive. This is how drugs designed to kill cancer cells are also delivered. This is hard to achieve in the laboratory. We have overcome this by using an artificial blood substitute which we will introduce into our three-dimensional environment. This will produce a breast cancer model which has many similarities to how breast cancer cells grow in the human body, which we will be able to use routinely in our own labs. We want as many scientists as possible to know about this model and be able to use this, so we will organise training events where scientists from all over the UK can receive practical hands-on training in our technology so that are confident to start using this in their own labs. Finally, as university academics we are responsible for training the next generation of scientists so will introduced this technology into our teaching through lectures and practical sessions.