Generation of 3D Spheroids Using a Thiol-Acrylate Hydrogel Scaffold to Study Endocrine Response in ER⁺ Breast Cancer.

ABSTRACT: Culturing cancer cells in a three-dimensional (3D) environment better recapitulates in vivo conditions by mimicking cell-to-cell interactions and mass transfer limitations of metabolites, oxygen, and drugs. Recent drug studies have suggested that a high rate of preclinical and clinical failures results from mass transfer limitations associated with drug entry into solid tumors that 2D model systems cannot predict. Droplet microfluidic devices offer a promising alternative to grow 3D spheroids from a small number of cells to reduce intratumor heterogeneity, which is lacking in other approaches. Spheroids were generated by encapsulating cells in novel thiol-acrylate (TA) hydrogel scaffold droplets followed by on-chip isolation of single droplets in a 990- or 450-member trapping array.

SUBMITTER: Khan AH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9472224 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature