Design, modeling and 3D printing of a personalized cervix tissue implant with protein release function

Abstract

Cervical cancer induced by human papillomavirus (HPV) causes severe morbidity worldwide. Although cervical conization has been widely accepted as the most conventional surgery against cervical cancer, tissue defects and high recurrence rates have a significant negative impact on women’s mental and physical health. Herein we developed an implantable, personalized cervical implant with drug release function using 3D printing technology. The cervical implant was designed in cone-shape with hieratical porous structures according to the clinical data, 3D-printed using polyurethane by low-temperature deposition manufacturing (LDM), and finished by lyophilization. Anti-HPV protein was loaded into the porous structure under negative pressure afterwards. Elastic biomedical polyurethane and the porous structure ensured that these cervical implants were equipped with tailored mechanical properties comparable to physiological cervix tissue. Cytotoxicity and cytocompatibility tests indicated that these 3D-printed cervical implants supported cell adhesion and growth. More importantly, the cervical implants with regulated pores could help to quantitatively control the loading and release of anti-HPV protein to inhibit dissociative viruses near the cervix validly. As a result, the 3D-printed cervical implants in the present study showed considerable potential for use as functional tissue implants against HPV infection after cervical conization.