Although cardiogel does not induce complete tubulogenesis, it was found to support initial stages of angiogenesis such as Endothelial Cell sprouting, formation of capillary-like structures and polygon structures in the ADX-47273 absence of any external angiogenic factors. Previous studies have suggested that, since angiogenesis is a highly complex and multi-factorial process, its measurement should not be limited to only investigating the formation of tubular structures but include cell proliferation, migration, EC sprouting and capillary-like structures formation. The above features were also observed in cells cultured on cardiogel. In addition, RT-PCR analysis showed that there was an increased expression of angiogenic markers such as FLT1, CD31 and CDH5 in EA.hy926 cells cultured on cardiogel in comparison to gelatin coated controls. The angiogenic potential of cardiogel could be attributed to the synergistic effect of various proteins such as collagens I and III, laminin, fibronectin, Tmsb4x and A2m which are known to promote endothelial cell proliferation, migration and neo-vasculogenesis. Early-stage breast cancer has a favourable prognosis with a 5-year survival rate of up to 90% while this rate declines drastically to 20% upon tumour spreading to Mifepristone distant organs. There with, early detection remains a major challenge in the management of breast cancer. Mammography has become the standard of care for breast cancer screening although several limitations are known concerning this procedure, such as a poor accuracy in women with dense breast parenchyma resulting in reduced clinical sensitivity and specificity.For women at high risk to develop breast cancer, supplemental magnetic resonance imaging, an expensive technique that offers excellent imaging even around dense breast tissue, is applied.Unfortunately, the high sensitivity of MRI is compromised by a high rate of false positives resulting in unnecessary follow-up examinations causing further stress for the patient and costs. Owing to these limitations of mammography and MRI minimally-invasive novel screening tests are desirable to complement mammography and MRI, or even as stand-alone primary screening tools.