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Vertically Coated Graphene Oxide Micro‐Well Arrays for Highly Efficient Cancer Spheroid Formation and Drug Screening
Author(s) -
Kim CheolHwi,
Suhito Intan Rosalina,
Angeline Novi,
Han Yoojoong,
Son Hyungbin,
Luo Zhengtang,
Kim TaeHyung
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced healthcare materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.288
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 2192-2659
pISSN - 2192-2640
DOI - 10.1002/adhm.201901751
Subject(s) - spheroid , cancer cell , materials science , nanotechnology , adhesion , graphene , 3d cell culture , cell adhesion , anticancer drug , cancer , drug , cell , biophysics , biomedical engineering , chemistry , in vitro , biology , biochemistry , medicine , composite material , genetics , pharmacology
Research on the 3D culturing of cancer cells that better mimic in vivo solid tumors is important for efficient drug screening. Herein, a new platform that effectively facilitates the formation of cancer spheroids for anticancer drug screening is reported. Cytophilic graphene oxide (GO), when selectively coated on the sidewalls of micro‐wells fabricated from a cell‐adhesion‐resistive polymer, is found to efficiently initiates distinct donut‐like formation of cancer cell spheroids. Scanning electron microscopy and Raman mapping are used to analyze vertically coated GO micropatterns (vGO‐MPs) of different sizes (100–250 µm) on polymer platforms, and human liver cancer cells (HepG2), as a model cancer, are seeded on these platforms. Remarkably, the 150 µm‐sized platform is found to easily and rapidly generate 3D spheroids in the absence of cell‐adhesion proteins. In addition, owing to the unique characteristics of GO, vGO‐MPs are highly stable for long periods of time (≈1 month), even under harsh conditions (>70 °C). Moreover, the anticancer effects of two drugs (hydroxyurea and cisplatin) and the potential anticancer compound (curcumin) on HepG2 cells are demonstrated by simply measuring decreases in spheroid sizes. Hence, this new platform is highly promising as a cancer spheroid‐forming material for rapid drug screening.