What is it about?
This study describes the development a platform to study how lymphatic vessels drain fluid that accumulates in tissues, and then use it study why lymphatic drainage is reduced when they experience injury-induced inflammation, leading to lymphedema. Ultimately, we discovered a pathway involving a Rho-associated Kinase that causes this to happen, and showed that lymphedema can be improved by inhibiting that pathway first in our device and then in mice.
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Why is it important?
Lymphedema is a debilitating chronic condition that impacts millions of people, where fluid that naturally and continuously leaks into tissues from blood vessels, is not being drained sufficiently by the lymphatics. It can be painful and significantly increases the rates of infection of the affected tissue or organ. In the US, one of the more common causes of lymphedema is following surgeries or radiation such as for treating gynecologic or breast cancer.
Perspectives
New 3D culture platforms that mimic tissue functions, such as lymphatic drainage, provide a key new set of tools for researchers to study mechanisms of human physiology and disease. It is hoped that such models continue to advance and ultimately broaden our window into advancing new treatments for medicine.
Christopher Chen
Boston University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A 3D biomimetic model of lymphatics reveals cell–cell junction tightening and lymphedema via a cytokine-induced ROCK2/JAM-A complex, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, October 2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2308941120.
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