Advanced Scaffold Design via Electrospinning

Abstract

Nanofibers with the advantages of high porosity, large specific surface area, large aspect ratio, high surface energy and activity, high fiber fineness, and homogeneity are of general interest for tumor applications. Electrospinning is a simple and cost-effective technique for the fabrication of nanofibers that are composed of organic, inorganic, or organic/inorganic composite materials. By controlling the electrospinning process, nanofibrous mats with various structures, such as random, aligned, multi-layer, or 3-D structures, can be successfully fabricated. Electrospun nanofibrous mats possess good biocompatibility and similar structure to tumor extracellular matrix that can benefit tumor cell adhesion and proliferation studies as they also possess a minimal immune response. Anti-tumor agents such as drug, gene, target molecule, and photothermal conversion materials can be incorporated inside nanofibers through blend electrospinning or coaxial electrospinning. Also, the surface of electrospun nanofibers can present abundant functional groups, and anti-tumor agents can be modified onto the nanofiber surface through physical absorption or chemical reaction. The developed electrospun nanofibers can be applied to mimic a tumor microenvironment, to study cancer biology, and for cancer detection and therapy. In this chapter, we review the recent progress of electrospun nanofibers for tumor applications.