Lamfers Martine L M, Hemminki Akseli
VU University Medical Center, Department of Neurosurgery, Division of Gene Therapy, PO Box 7057, 1007 MB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Curr Opin Mol Ther. 2004 Aug;6(4):403-11.
Multicellular clusters of cells, or spheroids, can be grown and sustained in vitro, facilitating various cancer research and treatment approaches. As spheroids are three-dimensional and retain many of the cell types and features present in the original clinical tissues, they provide an important link between two-dimensional cell lines and in vivo xenograft studies. With regards to gene therapy and replication-competent oncolytic viruses in particular, spheroids allow sustained viability of primary tumor cells in vitro, a requirement for reliable analysis of replication. Analysis of clinical samples is of paramount importance for preclinical evaluation of candidate anticancer agents.
