“This unique hybrid nano-network allows for an exceptional combination of selective guidance stimuli for stem cell development, variations in immune reactions, and behavior of cancer cells.”Michael Gasik
Fluorescent images of breast carcinoma cell line showing the morphological changes of cells grown on vertical GAIN scaffolds“Structures borrowed from nature are of special interest because of their possible great effect on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.”Irina Hussainova
A new study has shown the potential for nanofiber scaffolds in guiding the behavior of stem and cancer cells, enabling them to act in a different but controlled way in vitro. The scaffolds were shown to direct the preferential orientation of human mesenchymal stem cells to suppress major inflammatory factors expression, and also to immobilize cancer cells. Such customized scaffolds that can mimic a native extracellular matrix could lead to new research into stem and cancer cell manipulation, associated advanced therapy development, and for conditions such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons.
Many studies have found it difficult to identify a proper substrate for in vitro models on engineered scaffolds that can modulate cells differentiation. However, in this work, published in Scientific Reports [Kazantseva, et al., Sci. Rep. (2016) DOI: 10.1038/srep30150], scientists demonstrated a new design and functionality of unique 3D customized porous substrate scaffolds of aligned, self-assembled ceramic nanofibers of ultra-high anisotropy ratio, augmented into graphene shells. The hybrid nano-network provides a useful combination of selective guidance stimuli of stem cells differentiation, immune reactions variations, and local immobilization of cancer cells, which was not available before.
The team, from Aalto University in Finland, in collaboration with Protobios, CellIn Technologies and Tallinn University of Technology, were inspired by the need for new advanced therapy medicinal products such as tissue engineering and even anti-cancer and neurological drug research, and associated areas such as toxicology. The scaffolds are capable of mimicking a native extracellular matrix capable of modulating cells differentiation. The scaffold helps in the evaluation of primary cells’ fate in different conditions as they provide controlled conditions to assess factors with greater precision by varying parameters.
As team leader Michael Gasik points out, “This unique hybrid nano-network allows for an exceptional combination of selective guidance stimuli for stem cell development, variations in immune reactions, and behavior of cancer cells”. Such selective down-regulation of certain inflammatory cytokines could also allow the approach to be a means of exploring the human immune system and treating associated diseases.
Researcher Irina Hussainova also said “Structures borrowed from nature are of special interest because of their possible great effect on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine”. The work could help towards the development of new cancer tumor models to identify how cancer develops, and for new cancer therapies. They have confirmed the effects for mesenchymal stem cells, mononuclear blood cells and four different tumor types, all of which exhibit rather distinct responses, so the team is now exploring neurogenic markers, immunology features and peculiarities between various cancer cell models.