Tissue mimetic 3D scaffold for breast tumor-derived organoid culture toward personalized chemotherapy.

Breast cancer cell lines lose the inherent gene expression profiles of their source tumor and when cultured as monolayers (two-dimensional) are unable to represent patient tumors. Thus, we engineered a biochemico- and mechano-mimetic three-dimensional (3D) culture platform for primary breast cancer cells by decellularizing cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) cultured on 3D macroporous polymer scaffolds to recapitulate tumor behavior and drug response more realistically. The presence of the CAF-derived extracellular matrix deposited on the polycaprolactone scaffold promoted cell attachment and viability, which is ascribed to higher levels of phosphorylated Focal Adhesion Kinase that mediates cell attachment via integrins.