Scaffold-based three-dimensional (3D) cell culture systems have gained increased interest in cell biology, tissue engineering, and drug screening fields as a replacement of two-dimensional (2D) monolayer cell culture and as a way to provide biomimetic extracellular matrix environments. In this study, microscale fibrous scaffolds were fabricated via electrohydrodynamic printing, and nanoscale features were created on the fiber surface by simply leaching gliadin of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL)/gliadin composites in ethanol solution. The microstructure of the printed scaffolds could be precisely controlled by printing parameters, and the surface nanotopography of the printed fiber could be tuned by varying the PCL/gliadin ratios. By seeding mouse embryonic fibroblast (NIH/3T3) cells and human nonsmall cell lung cancer (A549) cells on the printed scaffolds, the cellular responses showed that the fiber nanotopography on printed scaffolds efficiently favored cell adhesion, migration, proliferation, and tissue formation. Quantitative analysis of the transcript expression levels of A549 cells seeded on nanoporous scaffolds further revealed the upregulation of integrin-β1, focal adhesion kinase, Ki-67, E-cadherin, and epithelial growth factor receptors over what was observed in the cells grown on the pure PCL scaffold. Furthermore, a significant difference was found in the relevant biomarker expression on the developed scaffolds compared with that in the monolayer culture, demonstrating the potential of cancer cell-seeded scaffolds as 3D in vitro tumor models for cancer research and drug screening.
Keywords: PCL; electrohydrodynamic jet printing; in vitro 3D tumor model; nanotopography; scaffold.