Development of PCL polyHIPE substrates for 3D breast cancer cell culture

Jackson, Caitlin E., Ramos-Rodriguez, David H., Farr, Nicholas T. H., English, William R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3024-2441, Green, Nicola H. and Claeyssens, Frederik (2023) Development of PCL polyHIPE substrates for 3D breast cancer cell culture. Bioengineering-Basel, 10 (5).

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Abstract

Cancer is a becoming a huge social and economic burden on society, becoming one of the most significant barriers to life expectancy in the 21st century. In particular, breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death for women. One of the most significant difficulties to finding efficient therapies for specific cancers, such as breast cancer, is the efficiency and ease of drug development and testing. Tissue-engineered (TE) in vitro models are rapidly developing as an alternative to animal testing for pharmaceuticals. Additionally, porosity included within these structures overcomes the diffusional mass transfer limit whilst enabling cell infiltration and integration with surrounding tissue. Within this study, we investigated the use of high-molecular-weight polycaprolactone methacrylate (PCL-M) polymerised high-internal-phase emulsions (polyHIPEs) as a scaffold to support 3D breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) cell culture. We assessed the porosity, interconnectivity, and morphology of the polyHIPEs when varying mixing speed during formation of the emulsion, successfully demonstrating the tunability of these polyHIPEs. An ex ovo chick chorioallantoic membrane assay identified the scaffolds as bioinert, with biocompatible properties within a vascularised tissue. Furthermore, in vitro assessment of cell attachment and proliferation showed promising potential for the use of PCL polyHIPEs to support cell growth. Our results demonstrate that PCL polyHIPEs are a promising material to support cancer cell growth with tuneable porosity and interconnectivity for the fabrication of perfusable 3D cancer models.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Funding information: This research was funded by EPSRC, grant numbers: EP/S022201/1, EP/V012126/1 and EP/T517835/1 and The Royal Society, grant number: SRF\R1\221053.
Uncontrolled Keywords: polycaprolactone,polyhipe,tissue engineering,cam assay,breast cancer,bioengineering,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1500/1502
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Metabolic Health
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 13 Jul 2023 16:30
Last Modified: 25 Sep 2024 17:23
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/92608
DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering10050522

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