Emerging Roles of Electrospun Nanofibers in Cancer Research

Abstract

This article reviews the recent progress of electrospun nanofibers in cancer research. It begins with a brief introduction to the emerging potential of electrospun nanofibers in cancer research. Next, a number of recent advances on the important features of electrospun nanofibers critical for cancer research are discussed including the incorporation of drugs, control of release kinetics, orientation and alignment of nanofibers, and the fabrication of 3D nanofiber scaffolds. This article further highlights the applications of electrospun nanofibers in several areas of cancer research including local chemotherapy, combinatorial therapy, cancer detection, cancer cell capture, regulation of cancer cell behavior, construction of in vitro 3D cancer model, and engineering of bone microenvironment for cancer metastasis. This progress report concludes with remarks on the challenges and future directions for design, fabrication, and application of electrospun nanofibers in cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.

The application of electrospun nanofibers in cancer research, including drug/gene delivery, 3D cancer model, cancer cell detection/sensing, cancer cell imaging, cancer cell capture/separation/isolation, regulating the behavior of cancer cells, and engineering the pre-metastatic niche is reviewed in this progress report.

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