Collagen-Embedded Three-Dimensional Spheroid Model Based on Breast and Cervical Cancer for Drug Screening Application

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Cancer Research
• Drug Development

Background:

• Breast and cervical cancers remain leading causes of death for Indian women, necessitating improved treatment strategies.
• Current treatment protocols require better tumor models for testing novel therapeutics.
• There is a critical need for advanced models that accurately mimic in vivo tumor environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a bioengineered three-dimensional (3D) spheroid model for breast and cervical cancer.
• To assess the model's utility in understanding disease pathophysiology and for drug testing applications.
• To evaluate the model's ability to recapitulate in vivo tumor characteristics.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the liquid overlay method to generate uniform 3D spheroids from MDA-MB-231, HeLa, and CaSki cancer cell lines.
• Embedded spheroids in collagen type I and performed live/dead staining and viability studies.
• Analyzed epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) marker expression and conducted anti-cancer drug (cisplatin) testing.

Main Results:

• Successfully generated uniform-sized 3D spheroids for MDA-MB-231, HeLa, and CaSki cell lines.
• Observed increased spheroid viability post-incubation and identified dead cells in the spheroid core.
• Demonstrated elevated EMT markers (twist, N-cadherin, fibronectin) in 3D spheroids compared to 2D cultures.
• Found 4-5 fold higher IC50 values for cisplatin in 3D spheroids versus 2D cultures.

Conclusions:

• The collagen-embedded 3D spheroid model is a robust platform for generating 3D cancer spheroids.
• This model effectively recapitulates key properties of solid tumors in vivo.
• The 3D spheroid model shows significant potential for drug screening and future development of patient tumor-derived models.