A hallmark of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
(PDAC) is the ability for cancer cells to aggressively infiltrate
and navigate through a dense stroma during the metastatic
process. Key features of the PDAC stroma include an abun-
dant population of activated pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs)
and highly aligned collagen fibers; however, important ques-
tions remain regarding how collagen becomes aligned and
what the biological manifestations are. To better understand
how PSCs, aligned collagen, and PDAC cells might cooperate
during the transition to invasion, we utilized a microchannel-
based in vitro tumor model and advanced imaging technolo-
gies to recreate and examine in vivo-like heterotypic interac-
tions. We found that PSCs participate in a collaborative pro-
cess with cancer cells by orchestrating the alignment of colla-
gen fibers that, in turn, are permissive to enhanced cell

• Human pancreatic stellate cells modulate 3D collagen alignment to promote the migration of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells