The cancer microenvironment influences tumor progression and metastasis and is pivotal to consider when designing in vivo-like cancer models. Current preclinical testing platforms for cancer drug development are mainly limited to 2D cell culture systems that poorly mimic physiological environments and traditional, low throughput animal models. The aim of this work was to produce a tunable testing platform based on 3D printed scaffolds (3DPS) with a simple geometry that, by extracellular components and response of breast cancer reporter cells, mimics patient-derived scaffolds (PDS) of breast cancer. Here, the biocompatible polysaccharide alginate was used as base material to generate scaffolds consisting…
Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease where the tumor microenvironment, including extracellular components, plays a crucial role in tumor progression, potentially modulating treatment response. Different approaches have been used to develop three‐dimensional models able to recapitulate the complexity of the extracellular matrix. Here, we use cell‐free patient‐derived scaffolds (PDSs) generated from breast cancer samples that were recellularized with cancer cell lines as an in vivo‐like culture system for drug testing. We show that PDS cultured MCF7 cancer cells increased their resistance against the front‐line chemotherapy drugs 5‐fluorouracil, doxorubicin and paclitaxel in comparison to traditional two‐dimensional cell cultures. The gene expression…