Targeting Tumour Vasculature using Integrin αvβ3 -Observation of Liposome Accumulation in Microfluidic Vasculature Networks

This paper reports the use of perfusable microfluidic vasculature networks to investigate the use αvβ3 integrin-targeted liposomes as tumour vasculature targeting agents. Endothelial cells co-cultured with fibroblasts were induced to self-assemble into vasculature networks using pro-angiogenic growth factors. Tumour vasculature was mimicked by growing networks in tumour-cell conditioned media (TCM), taken from HCT116 cell cultures. Assessment of αvβ3 expression using immunostaining and flow cytometry observed the upregulation of αvβ3 expression on endothelial cells grown in TCM. Results observed increased liposome accumulation in tumour conditioned networks, suggesting αvβ3 may be a promising target for anti-cancer therapeutics.