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Updated: Jan 26, 2026

Author Spotlight: Optimizing Bovine Lung Decellularization for Organotypic Hydrogels
Published on: December 8, 2023
Decellularized Extracellular Matrix for Cancer Research
1Biotechnology Group, Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Technology Research Institute, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0064, Japan. hoshiba.takashi@iri-tokyo.jp.
Abstract:
Genetic mutation and alterations of intracellular signaling have been focused on to understand the mechanisms of oncogenesis and cancer progression. Currently, it is pointed out to consider cancer as tissues. The extracellular microenvironment, including the extracellular matrix (ECM), is important for the regulation of cancer cell behavior. To comprehensively investigate ECM roles in the regulation of cancer cell behavior, decellularized ECM (dECM) is now used as an in vitro ECM model. In this review, I classify dECM with respect to its sources and summarize the preparation and characterization methods for dECM. Additionally, the examples of cancer research using the dECM were introduced. Finally, future perspectives of cancer studies with dECM are described in the conclusions.
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