Fig. 5. Differential gene expression between 2D versus 3D heparin hydrogel cultivated breast cancer cells. (A) The Venn diagram represents the differentially expressed genes in the culture conditions compared to the control group. The highest changes were observed in the 3D hydrogel environments. (B) Heat map shows gene expression in the four different groups. The control and EGF (aq), or the cells grown on a dish are aligned similarly with slightly stronger expression in the EGF (aq) samples. Likewise, cells grown on HP-B hydrogel with and without solid-phase EGF showed similar alignment reads. (C) Heatmap shows normalized enrichment scores for cancer hallmark gene sets. Critical pathways are significantly altered with aqueous and solid-phase presentation.