Abstract
Objective
To fabricate in vitro cell-dense, three-dimensional (3D) tumor models by employing a cell sheet technology for testing anti-cancer drug efficacy.
Results
The stratified liver tumor models were fabricated by stacking contiguous HepG2 cell sheets. Triple-layer (3L), double-layer (2L), single-layer (1L) cell sheet-based liver tumor models (CSLTMs) demonstrated 106, 96, 85% cell viability, respectively, after 3 days treatment of 10 µM doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX), while cell viability in two-dimensional (2D) conventional culture (control) was 27%. After 7 days of DOX treatment, the viabilities of 3L, 2L, 1L, control were 24, 14, 3 and 4%, respectively. Probable explanations were blocked diffusion of DOX by the intact and multilayered structure and also hypoxia in the bottom of multilayered cell sheets.
Conclusion
CSLTMs showed a thickness-dependent cytotoxic efficacy of DOX and greater drug resistance than the control, thereby providing useful information toward the development of improved biomimetic tumor models.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the funding support from the Affiliated Hospital of Chengde Medical University.
Supporting Information
Supplementary Fig. 1—HepG2 cells cultured on the surface of the UpCell.
Supplementary Fig. 2—HepG2 cell sheet harvested on (Day -2) had broken up into pieces.
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Yang, J., Zhao, S., Ji, Y. et al. Cell sheet-based multilayered liver tumor models for anti-cancer drug screening. Biotechnol Lett 40, 427–435 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-017-2476-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-017-2476-1