Hydrogel microenvironments for cancer spheroid growth and drug screening

Yunfeng Li; Eugenia Kumacheva

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aas8998

Hydrogel microenvironments for cancer spheroid growth and drug screening

Sci Adv. 2018 Apr 27;4(4):eaas8998. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aas8998. eCollection 2018 Apr.

Authors

Yunfeng Li¹, Eugenia Kumacheva^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, 80 Saint George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H6, Canada.
² Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E5, Canada.
³ Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, 4 Taddle Creek Road, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G9, Canada.

Abstract

Multicellular cancer spheroids (MCSs) have emerged as a promising in vitro model that replicates many features of solid tumors in vivo. Biomimetic hydrogel scaffolds for MCS growth offer a broad spectrum of biophysical and biochemical cues that help to recapitulate the behavior of natural extracellular matrix, essential for regulating cancer cell behavior. This perspective highlights recent advances in the development of hydrogel environments for MCS growth, release, and drug screening. We review the use of different types of hydrogels for MCS growth, the effect of biophysical and biochemical cues on MCS fate, the isolation of MCSs from hydrogel scaffolds, the utilization of microtechnologies, and the applications of MCSs grown in hydrogels. We conclude with the discussion of new research directions in the development of hydrogels for MCS growth.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Biophysical Phenomena
Biotechnology
Cell Culture Techniques*
Chemical Phenomena
Drug Evaluation, Preclinical
Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor / methods*
Extracellular Matrix
Humans
Hydrogels*
Spheroids, Cellular*
Tissue Scaffolds / chemistry
Tumor Cells, Cultured
Tumor Microenvironment

Substances

Hydrogels