Protein-Based Materials as Cancer In Vitro Models

The extracellular matrix (ECM) plays an active role in tumor progression. Increasing evidence points out a permissive tumor microenvironment that enhances malignancy and makes drug targeting a more difficult task. Protein-based materials as a substrate for cell culture hydrogels offer the advantage of having the presence of cell-responsive sequences as opposed to synthetic polymer-based hydrogels. This is important for cancer research to evaluate different aspects of tumor proliferation, such as cell growth, cell adhesion, and cell invasion. The gold standard for protein-based hydrogels has been Matrigel. However, its ill-defined nature, low reproducibility, and weak mechanical properties do not make it an ideal scaffold for more rigorous cancer research – especially in the mechanotransduction field. Therefore, alternatives are very much in need. Herein, it is presented the main proteinaceous materials used as scaffolds to model tumor development: collagen, gelatin, fibrin, and silk fibroin.