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Engineering Advanced Models of the Glioblastoma Microenvironment Using Biomaterials

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Extracellular Matrix in Tumor Biology

Part of the book series: Biology of Extracellular Matrix ((BEM))

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Abstract

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and deadly primary brain cancer. Patients diagnosed with GBM have a mean survival time of only 21 months, despite an intense push over the past several decades to dissect underlying mechanisms and develop new therapies. Whereas discovery efforts related to GBM have traditionally focused on cell-intrinsic factors, such as genetic and epigenetic lesions, it has more recently become clear that cell-extrinsic factors within the tumor microenvironment play important pathogenic roles as well. More surprisingly, physical aspects of the microenvironment, including tissue structure and mechanics, can regulate signaling events that contribute to dysplasia, invasion, and metastasis. This chapter will describe the basic biology of physical microenvironmental regulation of the GBM, with a focus on the extracellular matrix. We will also describe how components of the physical microenvironment can be recapitulated using biomaterials technology and how these new platforms can contribute to next-generation culture systems for discovery and screening.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Andrew Rape & Sanjay Kumar

  2. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Sanjay Kumar

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  1. Andrew Rape
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  2. Sanjay Kumar
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Correspondence to Sanjay Kumar .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hamon Center for Therapeutic Oncology Research, UT Southwestern Medical Center , Dallas, Texas, USA

    Rolf A. Brekken

  2. Department of Reproductive Medicine, University of California , La Jolla, California, USA

    Dwayne Stupack

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Rape, A., Kumar, S. (2017). Engineering Advanced Models of the Glioblastoma Microenvironment Using Biomaterials. In: Brekken, R., Stupack, D. (eds) Extracellular Matrix in Tumor Biology. Biology of Extracellular Matrix. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60907-2_5

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