3D tumor-stroma model for NSCLC, 6/14

June 2014—InSphero, working with researchers at the Medical University Innsbruck in Tyrol, Austria, published a study highlighting development of a novel 3D cell culture model for non-small cell lung cancer. The findings, published March 24 in PLOS One, described using InSphero’s GravityPlus hanging drop platform to form 3D tumor spheroid co-cultures comprising an NSCLC tumor cell line and lung-derived fibroblasts.

To achieve their in vitro model, researchers used the NSCLC cell lines A549 or Colo699 to create 3D tumors in hanging drops, with or without the lung fibroblast cell line SV80. The tumors were then analyzed for viability, morphology, and expression of different phenotypic markers using immunohistochemistry and other methods. Most notable were changes in the tumor cells during co-culture that indicated an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, as evidenced by an increase in vimentin protein expression and a decrease in the epithelial cell adhesion protein E-cadherin. Also of interest was the expression of alpha smooth muscle actin in the SV80 fibroblasts only when co-cultured with A549 cells.

The authors plan to conduct advanced screens for improved anticancer drugs and to identify novel NSCLC biomarkers.

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