Electrospun nanofibers in cancer research: from engineering of in vitro 3D cancer models to therapy

TL;DR

This paper reviews how electrospun nanofibers are used in cancer research, focusing on creating 3D in vitro models and delivering therapies in vivo, highlighting recent advances and applications.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of electrospinning techniques, materials, and their dual application in cancer modeling and therapy delivery, emphasizing recent developments.

Findings

Electrospun fibers effectively mimic extracellular matrix properties.

3D fibrous scaffolds improve in vitro cancer model accuracy.

Electrospun patches enable targeted anticancer agent delivery.

Abstract

Electrospinning is historically related to tissue engineering due to its ability to produce nano-/microscale fibrous materials with mechanical and functional properties that are extremely similar to those of the extracellular matrix of living tissues. The general interest in electrospun fibrous matrices has recently expanded to cancer research both as scaffolds for in vitro cancer modelling and as patches for in vivo therapeutic delivery. In this review, we examine electrospinning by providing a brief description of the process and overview of most materials used in this process, discussing the effect of changing the process parameters on fiber conformations and assemblies. Then, we describe two different applications of electrospinning in service of cancer research: firstly, as three-dimensional (3D) fibrous materials for generating in vitro pre-clinical cancer models; and secondly, as patches encapsulating anticancer agents for in vivo delivery.