Use of Porous Hydrogel as a 3D Scaffold for the Growth of Leukemic B Lymphocytes

Overview

Background:
Primary human B cells chronic lymphocytic leukemia undergoes apoptosis, from which they can be rescued by contact with stromal cells or by the addition of specific soluble factor, when cultured in vitro. For research purposes of the behavior of CLL cells we created 3D in vitro model in which we simulated appropriate microenvironment for CLL cells to allow study the mechanism of survival of these cells in long-term cultivation.

Material and Methods:
Our aim was the scaffold structure to be geometrically similar to the 3D morphology of supporting bone marrow tissue in a trabecular bone; the 3D scaffold was also designed to conform to biocompatibility, sufficiently large surface area for cell attachment, high porosity for cell migration, proliferation and transport of nutrients. Another requirement was a partial transparency for inspection of cell model with optical techniques. We prepared 3D scaffolds from porous hydrogel poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA), poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-2-aminoethyl methacrylate) p (HEMA-co-AEMA) and p (HEMA-co-AEMA) modified with frequently used cell adhesion peptide Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD). All hydrogel scaffolds were manufactured in four pore diameters (125, 200, 300 and 350–450 μm). Scaffolds were tested with human bone marrow stromal cell line HS-5 and human embryonic kidney cell line HEK293.

Results:
Hydrogel scaffold p (HEMA-co-AEMA) modified with adhesion peptide Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) with pore diameter of 350–450 μm demonstrated that it is a convenient system for 3D cell cultivation, since it promotes interaction between the cells and also between the cells and the material. This scaffold was used for seeding of co-cultivation system of HS-5 cells with CLL-cells, which were stimulated through the CD40L signaling pathway as well as via the IL-4 pathway. Viability of B-CLL cells was higher in the presence of both stimulators than with each alone.

Conclusions:
We have shown that 3D scaffold technology is very useful for modeling of microsystems where the cancer cells behave like in their natural microenvironment.

Key words:
hematooncology – leukemia – hydrogel – stromal cells

This work was supported by grant COST CZ LD15144 “Cellular and acellular grounds for regeneration of bones and teeth” awarded by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of the Czech Republic.

The authors declare they have no potential conflicts of interest concerning drugs, products, or services used in the study.

The Editorial Board declares that the manuscript met the ICMJE recommendation for biomedical papers.

Submitted:
6. 3. 2017

Accepted:
26. 3. 2017