3D bioprinting of multi-cellular tumor microenvironment for prostate cancer metastasis

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most lethal cancers in men worldwide. The tumor microenvironment (TME) plays an important role in PCa development, which consists of tumor cells, fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and extracellular matrix (ECM). Hyaluronic acid (HA) and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are the major components in the TME and are correlated with PCa proliferation and metastasis, while the underlying mechanism is still not fully understood due to the lack of biomimetic ECM components and coculture models. In this study, gelatin methacryloyl/chondroitin sulfate-based hydrogels were physically crosslinked with HA to develop a novel bioink for the three-dimensional bioprinting of a coculture model that can be used to investigate the effect of HA on PCa behaviors and the mechanism underlying PCa-fibroblasts interaction. PCa cells demonstrated distinct transcriptional profiles under HA stimulation, where cytokine secretion, angiogenesis, and epithelial to mesenchymal transition were significantly upregulated. Further coculture of PCa with normal fibroblasts activated CAF transformation, which could be induced by the upregulated cytokine secretion of PCa cells. These results suggested HA could not only promote PCa metastasis individually but also induce PCa cells to activate CAF transformation and form HA-CAF coupling effects to further promote PCa drug resistance and metastasis.