Characterization of a novel 3D-FN-silk breast cancer model

To offer a robust and highly characterized three-dimensional (3D) model for anti-cancer drug discovery and basic research, we developed a 3D system in which the immortalized breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 were grown in recombinantly produced spider silk functionalized with the cell adhesion motif from fibronectin (FN-silk). The aim of this study is to evaluate whole-transcriptome changes driven by growth in such 3D model. The expression profiling was generated using two immortalized breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231) cultured in two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) conditions for seven days. As a baseline control condition, cells obtained from canonical 2D culture on tissue-culture-treated flask on the day of the 3D scaffold creation (day 0) were used. For each condition, three replicates originating from independent experiments were considered as biological replicates. 18 samples were produced and analyzed.