Level D· Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studiesLaboratory StudyEurope PMCOpen access

Fibroblast proximity to a tumor impacts fibroblast extracellular vesicles produced by 3D bioprinted stromal models

Amens JN., Yang J., Hawthorne L., Zorlutuna P.

Laboratory Study, published in Biomater Sci (2025) — summary generated from the PubMed abstract.

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Level D· Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studiesEvidence level of this study

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

  • Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
  • Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
  • Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
  • Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
  • Emerging · Emerging topic under active research
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This page is generated from the PubMed record. The Thai description is an automated summary of bibliographic fields and the abstract, not a full translation, and is not medical advice.

Study type
Laboratory Study
Journal
Biomater Sci (2025)
Reported sample size
—
Source database
Europe PMC
PMID
40492327
PMCID
PMC12150207
DOI
10.1039/d4bm01569j
Citations
2

Abstract (original English)

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are an important carrier of cellular communication that contain cargo such as cytokines, RNAs, or microRNAs (miRNA) and have been proven to play an important role in breast cancer tumorigenesis, progression, and metastasis. Although the role of cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs), and EVs originated from them have been studied extensively, there is a lack in knowledge on the contribution of normal fibroblasts surrounding the tumor and their roles with respect to their proximity to the tumor. Here we investigate how the proximity of the tumor affects the EV production of the normal fibroblasts. We created stromal models by 3D bioprinting two different fibroblasts, normal human mammary fibroblasts (hMFs) and normal tumor adjacent fibroblasts (NTAF), within a collagen gel. We isolated EVs from both the effluent media and the 3D stromal model, which were then characterized and we found that EVs from each group were of consistent exosome size and displayed traditional exosome markers, however, the EVs from different groups also displayed different cytokine profiles of their cargo, with the NTAF media group showing an upregulation of cytokines associated with breast cancer progression. After this, we used the EVs to treat breast cancer cells to investigate the effects of the EV groups on the breast cancer cell behavior. The breast cancer cells treated wi

What this study does not prove

  • • This study does not prove SVF is an approved treatment or a replacement for standard care.
  • • This is preclinical work; animal or laboratory results cannot be applied to humans.

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

How we grade evidence
Cell Line, TumorFibroblastsHumansBreast NeoplasmsCytokinesCell MovementFemaleBioprintingPrinting, Three-DimensionalExtracellular Vesicles

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