A large number of literature studies reveal that microenvironmental interactions control fate of cancer stem cells, like self renewal, differentiation, invasion, and distant metastasis. Tumor cells communicate with the surrounding environment, sending and receiving topographical and molecular cues that direct various cellular phenomena. However, the complexity of the invivo system makes it difficult to isolate and study those ECM topographical cues which affect such cellular transitions and behaviors. Thus it is necessary to employ an invitro biomimetic scaffold which can simultaneously recreate the natural instructive microenvironments in terms of matrix composition, topography and spatial orientation to investigate such cell-matrix interactions. We have previously established that polymeric electrospun scaffold can induce EMT-like changes in cancer cells by a phenotypic variation through contact guidance. Our current work emphasizes composite biological cues from ECM proteins like collagen, fibronectin and laminin, and geometric cues from electrospun 3D scaffold in determining cancer stem cell fate. The results of this study indicate that the microenvironmental cues may play a significant role in tumor progression and development and can be a novel target for designing cancer treatment.

Microenvironmental modulation of cancer stem cells through engineered bioscaffold

243rd National Meeting (2012)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.