title: Incorporation of multicellular spheroids into 3-D polymeric scaffolds provides an improved tumor model for screening anticancer drugs.
abstract: Development of cancer therapeutics requires a thorough evaluation of drug efficacy in vitro before animal testing and subsequent clinical trials. Three-dimensional (3-D) in vitro models have therefore been investigated for drug screening. In this study, we have developed a novel in vitro model in which multicellular aggregates, or spheroids, were incorporated into 3-D porous scaffolds. Drug resistance assays showed that spheroid-seeded scaffolds have much higher drug resistance than monolayer cultures, spheroids on flat substrates, or scaffolds seeded with dispersed cells. Furthermore, spheroid-seeded scaffolds demonstrated higher lactate production leading to acidosis, and higher expression of angiogenic factors. These data suggest that the spheroid-seeded 3-D scaffolds might serve as a useful in vitro system for screening cancer therapeutics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: Won Jin
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: Edward A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.forename: Jun W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Christopher W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: Jae H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Daniel T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Kamei
authors.forename: Benjamin M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D018874:Spheroids, Cellular / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects*