The development of a suitable three dimensional (3D) culture system for anticancer drug development remains an unmet need. Despite progress, a simple, rapid, scalable and inexpensive 3D-tumor model that recapitulates in vivo tumorigenesis is lacking. Herein, we report on the development and characterization of a 3D nanofibrous scaffold produced by electrospinning a mixture of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) and a block copolymer of polylactic acid (PLA) and mono-methoxypolyethylene glycol (mPEG) designated as 3P. Cancer cells cultured on the 3P scaffold formed tight irregular aggregates similar to in vivo tumors, referred to as tumoroids that depended on the topography and net charge of the scaffold. 3P scaffolds induced tumor cells to undergo the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) as demonstrated by up-regulation of vimentin and loss of E-cadherin expression. 3P tumoroids showed higher resistance to anticancer drugs than the same tumor cells grown as monolayers. Inhibition of ERK and PI3K signal pathways prevented EMT and reduced tumoroid formation, diameter and number. Fine needle aspirates, collected from tumor cells implanted in mice when cultured on 3P scaffolds formed tumoroids, but showed decreased sensitivity to anticancer drugs, compared to tumoroids formed by direct seeding. These results show that 3P scaffolds provide an excellent platform for producing tumoroids from tumor cell lines and from biopsies and that the platform can be used to culture patient biopsies, test for anticancer compounds and tailor a personalized cancer treatment.

A near infrared (NIR) triggered drug delivery platform based on the chitosan-modified chemically reduced graphene oxide (CRGO) incorporated into a thermosensitive nanogel (CGN) was developed. CGN exhibited an NIR-induced thermal effect similar to that of CRGO, reversible thermo-responsive characteristics at 37–42 °C and high doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) loading capacity (48 wt%). The DOX loaded CGN (DOX-CGN) released DOX faster at 42 °C than at 37 °C. The fluorescence images revealed DOX expression in the cytoplasm of cancer cells when incubated with DOX-CGN at 37 °C but in the nucleus at 42 °C. Upon irradiation with NIR light (808 nm), a rapid, repetitive DOX release from the DOX-CGN was observed. Furthermore, the cancer cells incubated with DOX-CGN and irradiated with NIR light displayed significantly greater cytotoxicity than without irradiation owing to NIR-triggered increase in temperature leading to nuclear DOX release. These results demonstrate CGN’s promising application for on-demand drug release by NIR light.