Curcumin nanoparticles combined with 3D printed bionic tumor models for breast cancer treatment

Abstract

Compared with conventional therapeutic approaches, nanomedicines are attracting a growing interest due to their better targeting ability, higher delivery efficiency, and good water solubility. However, conventional drug efficacy assessment methods are based on a two-dimensional (2D) culture approach of single cells to obtain in vitro therapeutic effects, which may not be representative of actual tumors. Based on the above considerations, the three-dimensional (3D) cell culture models became a better choice since they can increase the complexity of in vitro systems and provide a biomimetic microenvironment that is closer to the in vivo native than two-dimensional (2D) cultures. In our study, Chinese medicine nanoparticles (CurNPs) with good water solubility and good tumor therapeutic effects were prepared by combining polymeric non-ionic surfactant (Pluronic F127) with curcumin. The hybrid scaffolds based on nano-clay, sodium alginate, and gelatin were also prepared, which showed good printability and excellent biocompatibility. We then studied the therapeutic effects of CurNPs on metastatic breast cancer using a 3D tumor model fabricated with scaffold-bound metastatic breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) cells. It was showed that the 3D cell model presented better cell proliferation effect while compared with 2D version. Additionally, there was good enhanced permeability and retention effect (EPR) effect when CurNPs entered with better accumulate in 3D cell “tumor” sites which represented more realistic response of a more real tumor treatment effect for breast cancer cells. Our study indicated that the combinational of nanomaterials with 3D cell ‘tumor’ models provided an alternative and better platform for drug screening and has great potential be used as safe and effective treatment screening for breast cancer.

Porous Structural Microfluidic Device for Biomedical Diagnosis: A Review

“…Porous materials possess unique properties for fluid flow and separation, and they can also serve as scaffolds to mimic the process of cell proliferation and differentiation in biological tissues for 3D cell culture. This makes them highly versatile for use in various applications, including cell physiology, tumor models, and drug delivery [ 229 , 230 , 231 ]. Yu et al developed a PMMA master mold with 3D undulated microtopographies, which was then used to create a PDMS production mold [ 232 ].…”

Placing biofabrication into the context of human disease modeling

“…Ozbolat and colleagues showed that, when using a 3D-printed microwell to deposit T cells on top of a fibrin gel laden with isolated breast cancer cells or breast cancer spheroids, the underlying immune-cancer interactions could be effectively studied towards screening of immunotherapeutic strategies [18]. Alternatively, Song and colleagues 3D-printed hydrogel scaffolds that enabled faithful culture of breast cancer cells to construct the models, which were subsequently utilized to investigate the anti-cancer effects of nanoparticles encapsulating a traditional Chinese medicine curcumin [19]. Mechanistically, Huang and colleagues designed straight, wavy, looped, and grided fiber patterns via low-voltage continuous electrospinning-based 3D printing to understand breast cancer cell migration behaviors [20].…”