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Bioengineering the Tumor Microenvironment to Elucidate Cancer Dormancy and Intercellular Communication

Rima, Xilal Y.
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5633-5887
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu168910457516746

Abstract Details

2023, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Chemical Engineering.
Minimal residual disease (MRD) is the persistence of latent cancer cells in distant sites originating from a primary tumor. In the case of breast cancer, the tumor cells originate in the breast tissue, such as the lobules or the ducts, traverse circulation, and invade distant organs, such as the liver, lung, bones, and brain, which are considered traditional metastatic sites. While treating cancerous cells in the primary site has encouraging survival rates of ~ 99%, once cancer metastasizes to distant organs, the survival rates plummet to ~ 30%. The drastic decrease in survival is due to the biological differences of the cancer cells responsible for MRD, such as evasion of the immune system, drug resistance, and dormancy, whereby the latter is characterized as the cessation of proliferation by cell cycle arrest. The extracellular matrix (ECM) and intercellular communication have been associated with the induction of dormancy. Furthermore, extracellular vesicles (EVs), which are cell-derived nanoparticles, are carriers of bioactive molecules and are thus a part of intercellular communication systems. Therefore, engineering the tumor microenvironment to actuate cell-ECM and cell-cell interactions has profound implications for understanding and simplifying the complexity of cancer dormancy. Herein, we present novel in vitro methods for engineering the tumor microenvironment to promote intercellular interaction, provide physiologically relevant models for EV secretion, develop novel methods to phenotype blood-derived particles, delineate a signature for dormant tumor cells, and efficiently screen therapies that target the inherent biology of tumor cells.
Eduardo Reátegui, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Bhuvaneswari Ramaswamy, M.D., M.R.C.P. (Committee Member)
Andre F. Palmer, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Natarajan Muthusamy, Ph.D., D.V.M. (Committee Member)
169 p.
Chemical Engineering
Cancer Dormancy, Bioengineering, Extracellular Vesicles, Intercellular Communication, Invasive Lobular Carcinoma

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Rima, X. Y. (2023). Bioengineering the Tumor Microenvironment to Elucidate Cancer Dormancy and Intercellular Communication [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu168910457516746

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Rima, Xilal. Bioengineering the Tumor Microenvironment to Elucidate Cancer Dormancy and Intercellular Communication. 2023. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu168910457516746.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Rima, Xilal. "Bioengineering the Tumor Microenvironment to Elucidate Cancer Dormancy and Intercellular Communication." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2023. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu168910457516746

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.