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MCF‐7 derived cell spheres and clusters generated during the long‐term progression of 3D artificial tumors yield distinctive colonies and monolayer populations potentially reflective of relative malignant stage.
Author(s) -
Lyden Timothy,
Albu Greta,
Jewett Sarah,
Lozano Ashley,
Vue Long
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.08749
Subject(s) - spheroid , spheres , monolayer , biology , cell culture , biophysics , chemistry , nanotechnology , materials science , physics , genetics , astronomy
In a continuing effort to establish bio‐physiologically relevant in‐vitro models of tumor biology, our laboratory has shown that MCF‐7 derived 3D artificial tumors undergo a process that closely resembles tumor progression. A significant feature of this process is the release of both single cells and cell clusters as well as spheroids of various sizes. These generally range for clusters of a few cells and perhaps 50um in diameter to large structures which contain hundreds of cells and exceed 300–400um in overall dimension. This progressive release of cell structures continues for extended periods of time once start and easily generates dozens of new clusters per day. Once released these clusters remain suspended in the media of the culture for up to several days, eventually settling and attaching to the plate in most cases. At that point, these spheres/clusters explant onto the plate and form new colonies of tumor cells. Eventually these will cover large portions of the plate, however the individual colonies retain their own distinct structure even when multiple such colonies meet to form large coverage monolayers. In this report we examine the behaviors of these shed cell spheres and clusters using 3D artificial tumors as sources as well as applying two additional methods to generate similar structures. Those additional methods are hanging drop plates and rocking cultures. In all cases, the cultures which result present with distinctly colonial behaviors and in many cases these colonies also form new 3D structures following a period of growth in 2D. Previously we have also shown that these features will attach and invade target artificial stromal tissues as well. Taken together, these data suggest that MCF‐7 derive 3D artificial tumors function as a workable model of in‐vitro metastasis and provides a new tool‐set to examine and better understand this critical phase of cancer biology.