Engineered Breast Cancer Cell Spheroids Reproduce Biologic Properties of Solid Tumors.

ABSTRACT: Solid tumors develop as 3D tissue constructs. As tumors grow larger, spatial gradients of nutrients and oxygen and inadequate diffusive supply to cells distant from vasculature develops. Hypoxia initiates signaling and transcriptional alterations to promote survival of cancer cells and generation of cancer stem cells (CSCs) that have self-renewal and tumor-initiation capabilities. Both hypoxia and CSCs are associated with resistance to therapies and tumor relapse. This study demonstrates that 3D cancer cell models, known as tumor spheroids, generated with a polymeric aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) technology capture these important biological processes. Similar to solid tumors, spheroids of triple negative breast cancer cells deposit major extracellular matrix proteins. The molecular anal

SUBMITTER: Ham SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5142748 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature