In vitro 3D cell culture systems utilizing multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTS) are widely used in translational oncology, including for studying cell migration and in personalized therapy. However, early stages of cellular migration from MCTS and cross-talk between spheroids are overlooked, which was addressed in the current study. Here, we investigated cell migration from MCTS derived from human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell line A549 cultured on different substrates, collagen gel or plastic, at different time points. We found that migration starts at 4–16 h time points after the seeding and its speed is substrate-dependent. We also demonstrated that co-culture of two NSCLC-derived MCTS on collagen gel, but not on plastic, facilitates cell migration compared with single MTCS. This finding should be considered when designing MCTS-based functional assays for personalized therapeutic approach and drug screenings. Overall, our work characterizes the in vitro 3D cell culture model resembling NSCLC cell migration from the clusters of CTCs into surgical wound, and describes microscopy-based tools and approaches for image data analysis with a potential for further automation. These tools and approaches also might be used to predict patterns of CTCs migration based on ex vivo analysis of patient biopsy in a 3D culture system.
The creation and use of biobanks is an actively growing field that plays an important role in the development of many branches of biotechnology and biomedicine, including oncology and translational medicine. In this review, based on the analysis of more than 80 Russian and foreign publications, we describe the current state of biobanking and its future perspectives. The diversity of biobanking and the problems arising from it, including the limits of applicability to different types of research, as well as the prospects for development are discussed. The role of biobanks in the study of malignant neoplasms, including rare/orphan diseases, and in the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, personalised medicine and pre-clinical screening studies, are highlighted.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.