The use of biomaterials has substantially contributed to both our understanding of tumorigenesis and our ability to identify and capture tumour cells in vitro and in vivo. Natural and synthetic biomaterials can be applied as models to recapitulate key features of the tumour microenvironment in vitro, including architectural, mechanical and biological functions. Engineered biomaterials can further mimic the spatial and temporal properties of the surrounding tumour niche to investigate the specific effects of the environment on disease progression, offering an alternative to animal models for the testing of cancer cell behaviour. Biomaterials can also be used to capture and detect cancer cells in vitro and in vivo to monitor tumour progression. In this Review, we discuss the natural and synthetic biomaterials that can be used to recreate specific features of tumour microenvironments. We examine how biomaterials can be applied to capture circulating tumour cells in blood samples for the early detection of metastasis. We highlight biomaterial-based strategies to investigate local regions adjacent to the tumour and survey potential applications of biomaterial-based devices for diagnosis and prognosis, such as the detection of cellular deformability and the non-invasive surveillance of tumour-adjacent stroma.

生物材料的使用对我们对肿瘤发生的理解以及我们在体外和体内识别和捕获肿瘤细胞的能力都做出了重大贡献。天然和合成生物材料可以用作模型，以在体外概括肿瘤微环境的关键特征，包括建筑，机械和生物学功能。工程生物材料可以进一步模拟周围肿瘤小生境的空间和时间特性，以研究环境对疾病进展的特定影响，为动物模型的癌细胞行为测试提供替代方法。生物材料还可以用于在体外和体内捕获和检测癌细胞，以监测肿瘤的进展。在这篇评论中，我们讨论了可用于重建肿瘤微环境特定特征的天然和合成生物材料。我们研究了如何将生物材料应用于捕获血液样本中循环的肿瘤细胞以及早发现转移。我们着重介绍了基于生物材料的策略，以研究肿瘤附近的局部区域，并调查基于生物材料的设备在诊断和预后方面的潜在应用，例如细胞变形能力的检测和对肿瘤相邻基质的非侵入性监测。