ArticleBiomaterials2017
On-demand dissolution of modular, synthetic extracellular matrix reveals local epithelial-stromal communication networks.
Article in Biomaterials, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 99 citations in OpenAlex.
- Modeling Tenascin-C-rich metastatic tumor niches in engineered hydrogel biomaterials.Acta biomaterialia · 2026Article
- Development of a Synthetic Hydrogel to Foster Microvascularization of an Endometriosis Microphysiological System.Advanced healthcare materials · 2026Article
- Nanofibrous-Composite Hydrogels for Modulating Stem Cell Behavior.Cells, tissues, organs · 2026Review
- Enzymatic Methods for Assembling and Modifying Hydrogel Biomaterials.Regenerative engineering and translational medicine · 2025Article
- WERF Endometriosis Phenome and Biobanking Harmonisation Project for Experimental Models in Endometriosis Research (EPHect-EM-Organoids): endometrial organoids as an emerging technology for endometriosis research.Molecular human reproduction · 2025Review
- Matrix Stiffness and Biochemistry Govern Colorectal Cancer Cell Growth and Signaling in User-Programmable Synthetic Hydrogels.ACS biomaterials science & engineering · 2025Article
- Developments in gastrointestinal organoid cultures to recapitulate tissue environments.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2025Review
- Stepwise Stiffening/Softening of and Cell Recovery from Reversibly Formulated Hydrogel Interpenetrating Networks.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2024Article
- Review
- Particles and Prejudice: Nanomedicine Approaches to Reducing Health Disparities in Endometrial Cancer.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2024Review
- Bridging systems biology and tissue engineering: Unleashing the full potential of complex 3DBiophysics reviews · 2024Review
- Stepwise Stiffening/Softening of and Cell Recovery from Reversibly Formulated Hydrogel Double Networks.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Chemical and Biological Engineering Strategies to Make and Modify Next-Generation Hydrogel Biomaterials.Matter · 2023Article
- Organoid co-culture model of the human endometrium in a fully synthetic extracellular matrix enables the study of epithelial-stromal crosstalk.Med (New York, N.Y.) · 2023Article
- Mimicking Molecular Pathways in the Design of Smart Hydrogels for the Design of Vascularized Engineered Tissues.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- A Tumor Microenvironment Model of Pancreatic Cancer to Elucidate Responses toward Immunotherapy.Advanced healthcare materials · 2023Article
- User-Controlled 4D Biomaterial Degradation with Substrate-Selective Sortase Transpeptidases for Single-Cell Biology.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2023Article
- Engineered hydrogels for mechanobiology.Nature reviews. Methods primers · 2022Article
- Characterizing the extracellular matrix transcriptome of cervical, endometrial, and uterine cancers.Matrix biology plus · 2022Article
- Bioengineering Approaches to Improve Gynecological Cancer Outcomes.Current opinion in biomedical engineering · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Methods to parse paracrine epithelial-stromal communication networks are a vital need in drug development, as disruption of these networks underlies diseases ranging from cancer to endometriosis. Here, we describe a modular, synthetic, and dissolvable extracellular matrix (MSD-ECM) hydrogel that fosters functional 3D epithelial-stromal co-culture, and that can be dissolved on-demand to recover cells and paracrine signaling proteins intact for subsequent analysis. Specifically, synthetic polymer hydrogels, modified with cell-interacting adhesion motifs and crosslinked with peptides that include a substrate for cell-mediated proteolytic remodeling, can be rapidly dissolved by an engineered version of the microbial transpeptidase Sortase A (SrtA) if the crosslinking peptide includes a SrtA substrate motif and a soluble second substrate. SrtA-mediated dissolution affected only 1 of 31 cytokines and growth factors assayed, whereas standard protease degradation methods destroyed about half of these same molecules. Using co-encapsulated endometrial epithelial and stromal cells as one model system, we show that the dynamic cytokine and growth factor response of co-cultures to an inflammatory cue is richer and more nuanced when measured from SrtA-dissolved gel microenvironments than from the culture supernate. This system employs accessible, reproducible reagents and facile protocols; hence, has potential as a tool in identifying and validating therapeutic targets in complex diseases.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.