文摘
In this work we created electrospun fibrous scaffolds with random and aligned fiber orientations in order to mimic the three-dimensional structure of the natural extracellular matrix (ECM). The rigidity and topography of the ECM environment have been reported to alter cancer cell behavior. However, the complexity of the in vivo system makes it difficult to isolate and study such extracellular topographical cues that trigger cancer cells鈥?response. Breast cancer cells were cultured on these fibrous scaffolds for 3鈥? days. The cells showed elongated spindle-like morphology in the aligned fibers, whereas they maintained a mostly flat stellar shape in the random fibers. Gene expression profiling of these cells post seeding showed up-regulation of transforming growth factor 尾-1 (TGF尾-1) along with other mesenchymal biomarkers, suggesting that these cells undergo epithelial鈥搈esenchymal transitions in response to the polymer scaffold. The results of this study indicate that the topographical cue may play a significant role in tumor progression.