Cancer research by means of tissue engineering--is there a rationale?

Tissue engineering (TE) has evoked new hopes for the cure of organ failure and tissue loss by creating functional substitutes in the laboratory. Besides various innovations in the context of Regenerative Medicine (RM), TE also provided new technology platforms to study mechanisms of angiogenesis and tumour cell growth as well as potentially tumour cell spreading in cancer research. Recent advances in stem cell technology--including embryonic and adult stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells--clearly show the need to better understand all relevant mechanisms to control cell growth when such techniques will be administered to patients. Such TE-Cancer research models allow us to investigate the interactions that occur when replicating physiological and pathological conditions during the initial phases of replication, morphogenesis, differentiation and growth under variable given conditions. Tissue microenvironment has been extensively studied in many areas of TE and it plays a crucial role in cell signalling and regulation of normal and malignant cell functions. This article is intended to give an overview on some of the most recent developments and possible applications of TE and RM methods with regard to the improvement of cancer research with TE platforms. The synthesis of TE with innovative methods of molecular biology and stem-cell technology may help investigate and potentially modulate principal phenomena of tumour growth and spreading, as well as tumour-related angiogenesis. In the future, these models have the potential to investigate the optimal materials, culture conditions and material structure to propagate tumour growth.