High-Throughput Cancer Cell Sphere Formation for Characterizing the Efficacy of Photo Dynamic Therapy in 3D Cell Cultures.

ABSTRACT: Photodynamic therapy (PDT), wherein light sensitive non-toxic agents are locally and selectively activated using light, has emerged as an appealing alternative to traditional cancer chemotherapy. Yet to date, PDT efficacy has been mostly characterized using 2D cultures. Compared to 2D cultures, 3D sphere culture generates unique spatial distributions of nutrients and oxygen for the cells that better mimics the in-vivo conditions. Using a novel polyHEMA (non-adherent polymer) fabrication process, we developed a microfluidic sphere formation platform that can (1) generate 1,024 uniform (size variation <10%) cancer spheres within a 2 cm by 2 cm core area, (2) culture spheres for more than 2 weeks, and (3) allow the retrieval of spheres. Using the presented platform, we have successfully chara

SUBMITTER: Chen YC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4495468 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature