Zhu Zhen-Wei, Chen Lin, Liu Jing-Xian, Huang Jun-Wen, Wu Gang, Zheng Yan-Fang, Yao Kai-Tai
Cancer Research Institute, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, P.R. China.
Department of Oncology, Shenzhen Hospital of Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518000, P.R. China.
Exp Ther Med. 2018 Jan;15(1):85-92. doi: 10.3892/etm.2017.5419. Epub 2017 Nov 1.
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are considered to serve a key role in tumor progression, recurrence and metastasis. Tumorsphere culture is the most important method for enriching CSCs and is widely used in basic research and drug screening. However, the traditional suspension cell culture system has several disadvantages, including low efficiency, high cost and difficult procedure, making it difficult to produce tumorspheres on a large scale. In the present study, two biomaterials, methylcellulose (MC) and gellan gum (GG), were used to construct a novel culture system based on the traditional system. Subsequently, the characteristics of the novel three-dimensional (3D) culture system were evaluated, the design scheme was optimized, and the morphological and biological features of the tumorspheres cultured in this 3D system were compared with the traditional system. The results revealed that the tumorspheres cultured in the novel 3D system presented a higher seeding density and improved morphology, while maintaining stem-like properties. This evidence suggests that a simple, efficient and low-cost culture system that produces tumorspheres on a large scale was successfully constructed, which can be widely used in various aspects of stem cell research.
癌症干细胞（CSCs）被认为在肿瘤进展、复发和转移中起关键作用。肿瘤球培养是富集CSCs的最重要方法，广泛应用于基础研究和药物筛选。然而，传统的悬浮细胞培养系统存在几个缺点，包括效率低、成本高和操作困难，使得难以大规模生产肿瘤球。在本研究中，使用两种生物材料甲基纤维素（MC）和结冷胶（GG）在传统系统的基础上构建了一种新型培养系统。随后，评估了新型三维（3D）培养系统的特性，优化了设计方案，并将在该3D系统中培养的肿瘤球的形态和生物学特征与传统系统进行了比较。结果显示，在新型3D系统中培养的肿瘤球呈现出更高的接种密度和改善的形态，同时保持干细胞样特性。这一证据表明成功构建了一种简单、高效且低成本的培养系统，可大规模生产肿瘤球，该系统可广泛应用于干细胞研究的各个方面。
