Role of 3D electrospun PLGA scaffold on proliferation and differentiation of gastric cancer cells

• Main Author: Tan Mei Qi
• Other Authors: Tan Lay Poh
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/66702
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Gastric cancer is a significant health threat. The resistance to conventional treatments and recurrence has been associated with the presence of a population of cells within the tumour, known as cancer stem cells (CSCs). It was proposed that specifically targeting the CSCs may be an efficacious cancer therapy, hence driving many ongoing researches to enrich CSCs to support the understanding of cancer as well as the development of targeted treatment. In this report, 3D electrospun PLGA scaffold was fabricated to investigate the proliferation and differentiation of gastric cancer MKN28 cells encapsulated in gelatin methacrylate (GelMA). Characterization of the scaffold including properties such as fibre morphology and diameter, pore size and porosity, as well as mechanical properties, was done. Expression of genes was studied using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Upregulation of Oct4A and Sox2 indicated that cells might have differentiated to obtain stem-like characteristics, however downregulation of CD44 suggested that identification of presence of CSCs needs to be further investigated using more markers. As many had reported a correlation between CSCs and EMT, EMT was also studied to demonstrate any possible relationship. Upregulation of Snail1, Twist1, Twist2 and Zeb1 could have induced an EMT by repressing E-cadherin, as shown in the E-cadherin downregulation after day 3. However, the upregulation of E-cadherin after day 7 could not be explained at this stage. In addition, absence of N-cadherin and vimentin expression indicated that EMT might be in its initial stages. These findings necessitate further studies to validate if EMT was induced. The higher genes expression but lower proliferation of cells in hybrid sample as compared to pure scaffold pointed out that the scaffold will provide a suitable platform for further studies to optimise the hybrid sample to be used as a microenvironment to enrich CSCs.