Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Comparative Study Of Multicellular Tumor Spheroid Formation Methods And Implications For Drug Screening, Maria F. Gencoglu, Lauren E. Barney, Christopher L. Hall, Elizabeth A. Brooks, Alyssa D. Schwartz, Daniel C. Corbett, Kelly R. Stevens, Shelly Peyton

Chemical Engineering Faculty Publication Series

Improved in vitro models are needed to better understand cancer progression and bridge the gap between in vitro proof-of-concept studies, in vivo validation, and clinical application. Multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTS) are a popular method for three-dimensional (3D) cell culture, because they capture some aspects of the dimensionality, cell–cell contact, and cell–matrix interactions seen in vivo. Many approaches exist to create MCTS from cell lines, and they have been used to study tumor cell invasion, growth, and how cells respond to drugs in physiologically relevant 3D microenvironments. However, there are several discrepancies in the observations made of cell behaviors when comparing …