3D Biomatrix Publishes Application Notes with Novartis Researchers on Colorectal Cancer Spheroid Model
Ann Arbor, MI (PRWEB) October 07, 2013 -- 3D Biomatrix, a leader in three-dimensional (3D) cell culture products, is pleased to announce the publication of two new application notes featuring research conducted by researchers from GNF that utilized 3D Biomatrix’s Perfecta3D Hanging Drop Plates. Performed in the 384-well plate Hanging Drop Plates for high-throughput screening and analyzed with a high-content imager, the application notes describe how cutting-edge screening technologies can be paired with the Hanging Drop Plates to identify potential therapeutic targets.
The Hanging Drop Plates allow for controllable 3D spheroid or embryonic stem cell cultures in a 96- or 384-well plate format, simplifying and streamlining spheroid formation, culture, and subsequent testing of the 3D cellular constructs without the aid of coatings or matrices. This allows researchers to test in an environment that better replicates the many cellular interactions that occur in the human body that cannot be replicated in common flat 2D methods.
The first application note, “3D High-Content Analysis of Spheroids” was published in the September 15, 2013 issue of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News. In this article, GNF researchers utilized the Hanging Drop Plates to generate a reproducible model of colorectal cancer. The model was analyzed via immunohistochemistry and was found to have a normal matrix distribution and proliferative zones. A preliminary drug screen demonstrated that cell viability was responsive to increasing concentration of drug. Analysis of viability was conducted on the high-content imager. This application note demonstrates the use of spheroids in high-throughput screening and high-content analysis environments.
The data from these experiments was continued in, “High Content Analysis of Three-Dimensional Tumor Spheroids: Signaling Pathway Interrogation Using shRNA,” published in the October issue of Nature Methods. In this publication, the GNF researchers used spheroids that were formed in the Hanging Drop Plates as a colorectal cancer model to test the effects of genetic loss of function on spheroid formation and maintenance. The work demonstrated that reducing the expression of receptor tyrosine kinases and integrin receptors significantly reduced spheroid formation in colorectal carcinoma cells. This work shows that targets related specifically to 3D tumor structural growth can be revealed using these methods; these targets can then be exploited for therapeutic intervention.
More information on the Perfecta3D Hanging Drop Plates and the application notes can be found on the 3D Biomatrix website.
Meghan Cuddihy, 3D Biomatrix, http://www.3dbiomatrix.com, 734.272.4688, [email protected]
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