title: Establishment and Analysis of the 3-dimensional (3D) Spheroids Generated from the Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Cell Line HK1.
abstract: Spheroids have been shown to recapitulate the tumour in vivo with properties such as the tumour microenvironment, concentration gradients, and tumour phenotype. As such, it can serve as a platform for determining the growth and invasion behaviour pattern of the cancer cells as well as be utilised for drug sensitivity assays; capable of exhibiting results that are closer to what is observed in vivo compared to two-dimensional (2D) cell culture assays. This study focused on establishing a three-dimensional (3D) cell culture model using the Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (NPC) cell line, HK1 and analysing its growth and invasion phenotypes. The spheroids will also serve as a model to elucidate their sensitivity to the chemotherapeutic drug, Flavopiridol. The liquid overlay method was employed to generate the spheroids which was embedded in bovine collagen I matrix for growth and invasion phenotypes observation. The HK1 cells formed compact spheroids within 72 hours. Our observation from the 3 days experiments revealed that the spheroids gradually grew and invaded into the collagen matrix, showing that the HK1 spheroids are capable of growth and invasion. Progressing from these experiments, the HK1 spheroids were employed to perform a drug sensitivity assay using the chemotherapeutic drug, Flavopiridol. The drug had a dose-dependent inhibition on spheroid growth and invasion.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Kalaivani
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Muniandy
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia; Infectomics Cluster, Advanced Medical and Dental Institute, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 13200 Kepala Batas, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Prabu Siva
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Sankar
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Benedict Lian Shi
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Medical Research, Jalan Pahang, 50588 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Alan Khoo
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Soo-Beng
authors.affiliation: Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Venugopal
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Balakrishnan
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Nethia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mohana-Kumaran
keywords: 3-dimensional Spheroid; HK1 Cell Line; Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma