An in vitro model of prostate cancer bone metastasis for highly metastatic and non-metastatic prostate cancer using nanoclay bone-mimetic scaffolds

Prostate cancer has a strong preference for metastasizing to bone which is the primary cause of prostate cancer-related morbidity and mortality. The complex nature of cancer metastasis requires the development of translational models that recapitulate a specific metastatic stage. Herein, we report the mimicking of mesenchymal to epithelial transition (MET) of prostate cancer cells using highly metastatic and a non-metastatic prostate cancer cell lines. A unique cell culture technique that we termed as 'sequential culture' was used to create a biomimetic bone microenvironment for metastasized prostate cancer cells by introducing bioactive factors from osteogenic induction of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) within the porous 3D scaffolds. The in vitro 3D tumor model can be used as a testbed to study the interaction between prostate cancer and bone microenvironment and for the design of novel therapeutic studies.