Gene therapy is a potential method for cancer treatment but successful delivery remains a problem for its clinical use. This study aims to create a three-dimensional (3D) lab-based model of breast to mimic primary and secondary tumours, and to assess their ability when combined with gene delivery particles, as effective anti-cancer platforms. Traditionally, cancer cell culture has used 2D tissue culture plastic but it lacks the 3D tumour shape. The alternative uses animal models but also has limitations. Recently, 3D cell culturing has been proposed to bridge the gap between 2D culture and animal models as cells can respond naturally to the tumour environment. Scaffolds, made of natural materials including collagen, allow cell growth and are used as gene delivery platforms for tissue engineering within our laboratory. We believe collagen scaffolds may act as 3D lab “tumours” that mimic primary tumours while collagen-nanohydroxyapatite scaffolds may be used to study secondary cancer tumours in bone (metastasis) as hydroxyapatite may be involved in the bone metastasis process. Early work by the academic sponsor has demonstrated successful gene delivery in collagen-nanohydroxyapatite scaffolds mimicking prostate cancer bone metastasis so it is believed this model may also be used to successfully study gene delivery in a breast cancer model. Furthermore, these gene delivery scaffold-based models may be used for the development of new treatment targets for various cancers.
