These scaffolds, for example, were shown to be able to direct the preferential orientation of human mesenchymal stem cells, similarly to neurogenic lineage, to suppress of major inflammatory factors expression and to immobilise cancer cells.
The selective downregulation of specific inflammatory cytokines may be anticipated as a new tool for understanding the human immune system and ways of treating associated diseases. The effects observed are self-regulated by cells only, without the side effects usually arising from the use of external factors.
New scaffolds may help to control the fate of stem cells, such as development towards axons and neurites formation. This is important, for instance, in the development of Alzheimer’s disease therapy. The discovery may also be very useful in developing new cancer tumour models, understanding how cancer develops, and developing new cancer therapies.
Fluorescent images of breast carcinoma cell line showing the morphological changes of cells grown on vertical GAIN scaffolds.