Multicellular tumor spheroids explained

Multicellular tumor spheroids are scaffold-free spherical self-assembled aggregates of cancer cells.^[1] It is a 3 dimensional culture model which closely models oxygen gradients in small avascular tumors. They are cellular model used in cancer research to assess drug response.

Further reading

• Lazzari . Gianpiero . Couvreur . Patrick . Mura . Simona . Multicellular tumor spheroids: a relevant 3D model for the in vitro preclinical investigation of polymer nanomedicines . Polymer Chemistry . 2017 . 8 . 34 . 4947–4969 . 10.1039/C7PY00559H . free .
• Carver . Kyle . Ming . Xin . Juliano . Rudolph L. . Multicellular Tumor Spheroids as a Model for Assessing Delivery of Oligonucleotides in Three Dimensions . Molecular Therapy: Nucleic Acids . 1 January 2014 . 3 . 3 . e153 . 10.1038/mtna.2014.5 . 24618852 . 4027982 . free.
• Hirschhaeuser . Franziska . Menne . Heike . Dittfeld . Claudia . West . Jonathan . Mueller-Klieser . Wolfgang . Kunz-Schughart . Leoni A. . Multicellular tumor spheroids: An underestimated tool is catching up again . Journal of Biotechnology . 1 July 2010 . 148 . 1 . 3–15 . 10.1016/j.jbiotec.2010.01.012 . 20097238 .
• Yuhas . John M. . Li . Albert P. . Martinez . Andrew O. . Ladman . Aaron J. . A Simplified Method for Production and Growth of Multicellular Tumor Spheroids . Cancer Research . 1 October 1977 . 37 . 10 . 3639–3643 . 908012 .
• Kelm . Jens M. . Timmins . Nicholas E. . Brown . Catherine J. . Fussenegger . Martin . Nielsen . Lars K. . Method for generation of homogeneous multicellular tumor spheroids applicable to a wide variety of cell types . Biotechnology and Bioengineering . 20 July 2003 . 83 . 2 . 173–180 . 10.1002/bit.10655 . 12768623 .

Notes and References

1. Santani . M T . Rainaldi . G . Indovina . P L . July 1999 . Multicellular tumour spheroids in radiation biology . International Journal of Radiation Biology. 75 . 7 . 787–799. 10.1080/095530099139845 . 10489890 .