Sik Yoon
Sik Yoon PhD
Department of Anatomy, Pusan National University School of Medicine
Yangsan, Gyeongsangnam-do 626-870, Republic of Korea
sikyoon@pusan.ac.kr
Biography:
Dr. Yoon is a professor at the Department of Anatomy, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Korea. He is currently the Director of Immune Reconstitution Center of the Pusan National University Medical Research Institute. He is also serving as the Secretary-General of Korean Association of Anatomists since 2017. He completed his doctorate in Medical Anatomy with the role of thymic epithelial cells in thymus regneration at the Pusan National University, Korea in 1993. He studied imune cell biology in Washington University School of Medicine, USA as a Visiting Scientist. His current research interests include Nano-engineering of cells for biomedical applications, Development and application of 3D cell culture technology for drug discovery and diagnostic tools, Synthetic biology for T cell regeneration, and Development of therapeutic strategies to combat antitumor drug resistance and to modulate immune function.
Abstract:
Biomimetic 3D hydrogel-based cell culture model of human ovarian cancer: implications for novel therapeutic targets in ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer is one of the most deadly malignancies in women because of its poor prognosis and that a majority of patients are diagnosed at advanced stage. Therefore, chemotherapy becomes the most important treatment option in most ovarian cancer cases. Current in vitro drug testing models based on 2D cell culture lack natural tissue-like structural organization and result in disappointing clinical outcomes. The devel-opment of efficient drug testing models using 3D cell culture that more accurately re-flects in vivo behaviors is vital. Our aim was to establish an in vitro 3D ovarian cancer model that can imitate the in vivo human ovarian cancer microenvironment. Using this model, we explored strategies to evaluate tumor progression and malignancy. Ovarian cancer cells grown in this model exhibited excellent biomimetic properties compared to conventional 2D culture including (1) enhanced chemotherapy resistance, (2) sup-pressed rate of apoptosis, (3) upregulated expression of drug resistance genes (MDR1 and MRP1), (4) elevated levels of tumor aggressiveness factors including Notch (Notch, VEGF and MMPs), and (5) enrichment of a cancer stem cell markers (Sox-2 and Nanog). Therefore, our data suggest that our 3D ovarian cancer model is a promis-ing in vitro research platform for studying ovarian cancer biology and therapeutic ap-proaches.
Department of Anatomy, Pusan National University School of Medicine
Yangsan, Gyeongsangnam-do 626-870, Republic of Korea
sikyoon@pusan.ac.kr
Biography:
Dr. Yoon is a professor at the Department of Anatomy, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Korea. He is currently the Director of Immune Reconstitution Center of the Pusan National University Medical Research Institute. He is also serving as the Secretary-General of Korean Association of Anatomists since 2017. He completed his doctorate in Medical Anatomy with the role of thymic epithelial cells in thymus regneration at the Pusan National University, Korea in 1993. He studied imune cell biology in Washington University School of Medicine, USA as a Visiting Scientist. His current research interests include Nano-engineering of cells for biomedical applications, Development and application of 3D cell culture technology for drug discovery and diagnostic tools, Synthetic biology for T cell regeneration, and Development of therapeutic strategies to combat antitumor drug resistance and to modulate immune function.
Abstract:
Biomimetic 3D hydrogel-based cell culture model of human ovarian cancer: implications for novel therapeutic targets in ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer is one of the most deadly malignancies in women because of its poor prognosis and that a majority of patients are diagnosed at advanced stage. Therefore, chemotherapy becomes the most important treatment option in most ovarian cancer cases. Current in vitro drug testing models based on 2D cell culture lack natural tissue-like structural organization and result in disappointing clinical outcomes. The devel-opment of efficient drug testing models using 3D cell culture that more accurately re-flects in vivo behaviors is vital. Our aim was to establish an in vitro 3D ovarian cancer model that can imitate the in vivo human ovarian cancer microenvironment. Using this model, we explored strategies to evaluate tumor progression and malignancy. Ovarian cancer cells grown in this model exhibited excellent biomimetic properties compared to conventional 2D culture including (1) enhanced chemotherapy resistance, (2) sup-pressed rate of apoptosis, (3) upregulated expression of drug resistance genes (MDR1 and MRP1), (4) elevated levels of tumor aggressiveness factors including Notch (Notch, VEGF and MMPs), and (5) enrichment of a cancer stem cell markers (Sox-2 and Nanog). Therefore, our data suggest that our 3D ovarian cancer model is a promis-ing in vitro research platform for studying ovarian cancer biology and therapeutic ap-proaches.