Study the Effect of Anticancer Drugs on Human Breast Cancer Cells Using Three Dimensional Silicon Microstructures

In this paper we report development of three dimensional silicon microenvironments in order to test the morphological changes and adhesion properties of human breast cancer cells after treatment with different anticancer drugs such as Trichostatin A (TSA), suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) and Scriptaid. Our results indicate that the cancer cells reorganize their cytoskeleton structure after treatment with TSA and Scriptaid. However, SAHA does not change the behavior of the cells inside the three dimensional microstructures while TSA and Scriptaid evoked striking changes in the cells morphology. TSA and Scriptaid drugs cause the cells to stretch inside the isotropic microchambers to avoid contact with curved sidewalls in contrast to their originally rounded shape. The proposed microstructures can be used to evaluate mechanical properties and the pathological grade of various cancer cell lines after different conditions i.e. drug exposure.