Biointerface mediates cytoskeletal rearrangement of pancreatic cancer cell and modulates its drug sensitivity

Abstract Cells sense extracellular matrix to direct behaviors. Tumors take collagen fibers reorganized from curl or random fibers to straightened and aligned fibers during tumorigenesis. Here, we fabricated three nanofiber sheets with different orientation to investigate topographic effect on drug sensitivity of pancreatic cancer cell (PANC-1). These three nanofiber sheets were patterned as random, orthogonal and aligned matrix. We found cell responded to topography by morphological change. In aligned nanofiber, the area and perimeter of cells were enhanced. These changes in morphology were associated with the varying sensitivity to anti-cancer drugs as gemcitabine and paclitaxel. We found filaments of actin and vimentin were reorganized by topographic cues, and keratin protein were expressed in a higher level when cells on aligned nanofiber. These initial results highlight the impact of surface topographic effect on drug sensitivity to pancreatic cancer cells.