Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 5, 2025
Author Spotlight: Development of a Scaffold-Free Acoustic Assembly Method for High-Quality 3D Cell Spheroid Culture
Published on: October 13, 2023
Tumor Spheroids as Model to Design Acoustically Mediated Drug Therapies: A Review
Marie Roy1, Corentin Alix1, Ayache Bouakaz1
1UMR 1253, iBrain, Université de Tours, Inserm, 37032 Tours, France.
Abstract:
Tumor spheroids as well as multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTSs) are promising 3D in vitro tumor models for drug screening, drug design, drug targeting, drug toxicity, and validation of drug delivery methods. These models partly reflect the tridimensional architecture of tumors, their heterogeneity and their microenvironment, which can alter the intratumoral biodistribution, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of drugs. The present review first focuses on current spheroid formation methods and then on in vitro investigations exploiting spheroids and MCTS for designing and validating acoustically mediated drug therapies. We discuss the limitations of the current studies and future perspectives. Various spheroid formation methods enable the easy and reproducible generation of spheroids and MCTSs. The development and assessment of acoustically mediated drug therapies have been mainly demonstrated in spheroids made up of tumor cells only. Despite the promising results obtained with these spheroids, the successful evaluation of these therapies will need to be addressed in more relevant 3D vascular MCTS models using MCTS-on-chip platforms. These MTCSs will be generated from patient-derived cancer cells and nontumor cells, such as fibroblasts, adipocytes, and immune cells.
Insights
Multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTSs) offer advanced 3D in vitro models for drug development. Future research should utilize vascularized MCTSs on-chip for acoustically mediated drug therapy validation.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Cancer Research
- Drug Development
Background:
- Tumor spheroids and multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTSs) are valuable 3D in vitro models.
- They partially mimic tumor architecture, heterogeneity, and microenvironment, influencing drug behavior.
- These models are crucial for drug screening, design, targeting, toxicity, and delivery validation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review current spheroid formation methods.
- To explore in vitro investigations using spheroids and MCTSs for acoustically mediated drug therapies.
- To discuss limitations and future perspectives in this field.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on spheroid formation techniques.
- Analysis of in vitro studies employing spheroids and MCTSs for acoustic drug therapy research.
- Discussion of challenges and future directions for acoustically mediated therapies.
Main Results:
- Spheroid formation methods allow for easy and reproducible generation of spheroids and MCTSs.
- Acoustically mediated drug therapies have been primarily demonstrated in tumor-cell-only spheroids.
- Promising results exist, but further validation is needed in more complex models.
Conclusions:
- Advanced 3D tumor models like MCTSs are essential for accurate drug evaluation.
- Current acoustically mediated drug therapy assessments are limited by model complexity.
- Future validation requires vascularized MCTS models on-chip, incorporating patient-derived cells and diverse cell types.
