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    Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering

    (I-329) Using Patient-Derived Samples to Analyze the Correlation Between Peritoneal Stiffness and Ovarian Cancer Metastasis

    Saturday, October 14, 2023
    9:30 AM – 10:30 AM PDT
    Location: Exhibit Hall - Row I - Poster # 329

      Presenting Author(s)

    • ZW

      Zacchaeus Wallace

      Undergraduate Student
      University of Southern Mississippi
      Jackson, Mississippi, United States

      • Primary Investigator(s)

    • DS

      David I. Shreiber

      Professor
      Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
      Piscataway, Nebraska, United States

    Introduction:: Cancer metastasis accounts for over 90% of cancer deaths worldwide. It is associated with the high mortality rates of ovarian cancer, the deadliest form of gynecologic cancer. The mechanisms underlying metastasis remain poorly understood, and effective treatment options have not been identified to mitigate this spread of cancer cells throughout the body. However, it is increasingly evident that cues from the tumor microenvironment contribute to metastasis.  In this research, the metastatic behavior of ovarian cancer cells in response to changes in stiffness is investigated.

    Materials and Methods:: Our laboratory has developed a unique material, collagen methacrylamide (CMA), that maintains many of the functional properties of type 1 collagen, such as bioactivity, biodegradability, and self-assembly, while also allowing stiffness to be tuned by the controlled ultraviolet (UV) light. Tumor-like spheroids were grown from HEYA8 cells, an ovarian cancer cell line. Spheroids were cultured within or on top of CMA and collagen hydrogels. Samples were either exposed or not exposed to UV. The outgrowth of cells from the spheroids was monitored over 3 days.

    Results, Conclusions, and Discussions::

    Over the three-day period, we found the CMA hydrogels to have higher cell dispersion than collagen and the on conditions to be greater than the in conditions. These findings suggest that increased stiffness correlates to higher growth. This allows for the conclusion to be made that the CMA material can be further used with varying levels of UV exposure to mimic tumor stiffness in the peritoneum. Future work will repeat these experiments with more conditions regarding UV exposure and the use of patient-derived cells harvested from ascites fluid.



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