Fabrication of 3d lymph node mimetic and its potential for cancer diagnosis

Statement of Purpose: Prostate cancer (PCa) is the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States [1]. A major cause for mortality is the recurrent metastatic castration-resistant PCa. In fact, lymph nodes (LNs) are often the first organs in which the initial metastases take place and metastatic LN (m-LN) has been used as a prognostic factor in cancer [2]. However, the processes governing LN cancer metastasis are not totally understood. Equally important, there is no in vitro model to mimic LN responses, which is the goal of this investigation. Our recent studies have uncovered that PCa metastasized LNs are able to release several chemokines to promote cancer migration. Based on this recent observation, the overall objective of this work was to develop a 3D LN mimetic device that can produce cancer chemokines in vitro similar to real metastasized LN.