Abstract
Among various ECM proteins, collagen type-I is a widely distributed extracellular matrix (ECM) protein expressed in different types of cancers and induces tumor growth and drug resistance. To prove this, in the present work we co-cultured colon cancer cells (HCT-8) and fibroblast cells (NIH3T3) in a PDMS based open welled micro 3D (μ-3D) cell culture chip. This co-culture model was employed to study the interaction of cancer cells and stromal cells and revealed that collagen treatment before chemotherapy can be a game-changer in a colon cancer treatment.