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Updated: Feb 11, 2026

Preparation of Thermoresponsive Nanostructured Surfaces for Tissue Engineering
Published on: March 1, 2016
Engineering of thermoresponsive gels as a fake metastatic niche
Simona Giarra1, Caterina Ierano2, Marco Biondi1
1Department of Pharmacy, Università di Napoli Federico II, Via D. Montesano 49, 80131, Naples, Italy.
Abstract:
Chemoattraction through the CXCR4-CXCL12 axis has been shown to be an important mechanism to direct circulating tumor cells toward distant sites. The objective of this work was to prepare a fake metastatic niche made up of a gel loaded with CXCL12. The gel is designed to create a steep concentration gradient of the chemokine in the proximity of the site of administration/injection, aimed to divert and capture circulating CXCR4+ tumor cells. To this aim, different thermoresponsive gels based on methylcellulose (MC) or poloxamers, loaded with CXCL12, with or without hyaluronic acid (HA) were designed and their mechanical properties correlated with the ability to attract and capture in vitro CXCR4+ cells. Results of in vitro cell studies showed that all prepared gels induced CEM tumor cell migration whereas only gels based on MC embedded with CXCL12 are able to capture them.
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