• BMB Reports
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.276-281
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• 2013

In this study, we aimed to compare the morphogenetic and neuronal characteristics between monolayer cells and spheroids. For this purpose, we established spheroid formation by growing SH-SY5Y cells on the hydrophobic surfaces of thermally-collapsed elastin-like polypeptide. After 4 days of culture, the relative proliferation of the cells within spheroids was approximately 92% of the values for monolayer cultures. As measured by quantitative assays for mRNA and protein expressions, the production of synaptophysin and neuronspecific enolase (NSE) as well as the contents of cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) and extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins are much higher in spheroids than in monolayer cells. Under the all-trans-retinoic acid (RA)-induced differentiation condition, spheroids extended neurites and further up-regulated the expression of synaptophysin, NSE, CAMs, and ECM proteins. Our data indicate that RA-differentiated SH-SY5Y neurospheroids are functionally matured neuronal architectures.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.131-134
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• 2011

We propose a spheroid chip that uses removable cell trapping barriers and that is capable of forming and extracting multicellular spheroids. By using a conventional well plate and flask, it is difficult to form small-sized spheroids, which resemble avascular 3D cell-cell interaction. It was difficult to extract spheroids using conventional microchips and fixed cell trapping barriers. The proposed chip, however, facilitates both formation and extraction of spheroids by using removable cell trapping barriers formed by membrane deflection. The cell trapping barriers, formed at the membrane pressure of 50 kPa, hold the cells in the trapping region at a cell inlet pressure of 145.155 Pa. After incubation for 24 h, the trapped cells form uniform spheroids. We successfully extract the spheroids at a cell inlet pressure of 5 kPa after removing the membrane pressure. The extracted spheroids have a diameter of $197.2{\pm}11.7Bm$ with a viability of $80.3{\pm}7.7%$. Using the proposed chip, uniform spheroids can be formed and these spheroids can be safely extracted for carrying out the post-processing of spheroids.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.50-62
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• 2021

Among all cancer types, lung cancer ranks highest worldwide in terms of both incidence and mortality. The crosstalk between lung cancer cells and their tumor microenvironment (TME) has begun to emerge as the "Achilles heel" of the disease and thus constitutes an attractive target for anticancer therapy. We previously revealed that crosstalk between lung cancer cells and endothelial cells (ECs) induces chemoresistance in multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTSs). In this study, we demonstrated that factors secreted in response to crosstalk between ECs and lung cancer cells play pivotal roles in the development of chemoresistance in lung cancer spheroids. We subsequently determined that the expression of hypoxia up-regulated protein 1 (HYOU1) in lung cancer spheroids was increased by factors secreted in response to crosstalk between ECs and lung cancer cells. Direct interaction between lung cancer cells and ECs also caused an elevation in the expression of HYOU1 in MCTSs. Inhibition of HYOU1 expression not only suppressed stemness and malignancy, but also facilitated apoptosis and chemosensitivity in lung cancer MCTSs. Inhibition of HYOU1 expression also significantly increased the expression of interferon signaling components in lung cancer cells. Moreover, the activation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway was involved in the HYOU1-induced aggression of lung cancer cells. Taken together, our results identify HYOU1, which is induced in response to crosstalk between ECs and lung cancer cells within the TME, as a potential therapeutic target for combating the aggressive behavior of cancer cells.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.149-156
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• 1989

Multicellular tumor spheroids of HeLa cells have been grown in a static culture system. Samples of spheroids were exposed for 2 h to graded concentration of cis-platinum and its analogue, carboplatin, and then response assayed by survival of clonogenic cells. The purpose of present experiment is to clarify the effectiveness of these platinum compounds and to evaluate intrinsic radiosensitivity of cells using spheroids of HeLa cells as an experimental in vitro model. Variations of the drug sensitivity of monolayers as well as spheroids were also evaluated in cell-survival curves. In cis-platinum concentration-survival curve, there was a large shoulder extending as far as $Cq=3.4{\mu}M$, after which there was exponential decrease in survival curve having a Co Value of $1.2{\mu}M$ in spheroids. While the Co for the spheroids was essentially no significant change, but Cq value was larger than that of monolayers. This suggest that the effect of cis-platinum is greater En the monolayer with actively proliferaing cells than hypoxic one. In the carboplatin concentration-survival curves, the Co value of spheroids was $15.0{\mu}M$ and the ratio with the Co from monolayer cell $(32.5{\mu}M)$ was 0.40, thus indicating that the spheroids had a greater sensitivity to carboplatin than monolayers. Therefore, the effect of carboplatin is mainly on the deeper layers of spheroids acting as hypoxic cell sensitizer. The enhanced effect was obtained for monolayer cells using combined X-ray and carboplatin treatment 2 hours before irradiation. The result shown in isobologram analysis for the level of surviving fraction at 0.01 indicated that the effect of two agents was trusty supra-additive. From this experimental data, carboplatin has excited much recent interest as one of the most promising, since it is almost without nephrotoxicity and causes less gastrointestinal toxicity than cis-platinum. Interaction between carboplatin and radiation might play an important role for more effective local tumor control.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.1145-1151
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• 2012

Aspirin and its deacetylated form, sodium salicylate (NaSal), have been shown to exert chemopreventive activities against many human cancers including those of the colon, lung, and breast. Previously, we showed that combined treatment of NaSal and genistein synergistically induced apoptosis in A549 lung cancer cells, indicating that these two natural chemicals could be used in combination for cancer therapy. In this study, we examined effects of NaSal/genistein combined treatment on other cancer cells and in three-dimensional multicellular tumor spheroid (MTS) and in an in vitro solid tumor model. We found that the combined treatment induces apoptosis in the HCT116 cells and the A549 cells, but not in the MCF-7 cells. Interestingly, the MCF-7 cells responded to the NaSal/genistein combined treatment by undergoing cell death when they were cultivated as MTS. The combined treatment induced apoptosis at an earlier stage in the MCF-7 MTS culture. However, when the MCF-7 MTS was cultivated for a longer period, it induced necrosis rather than apoptosis. We further found that the apoptotic pattern observed in MCF-7 MTS was incomplete: the chromatins were condensed and fragmented, but the nuclear membrane was still intact. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the NaSal/genistein combined treatment induces incomplete apoptosis and necrosis in the MCF-7 MTS culture system.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.305-306
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• 2003

To treat fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) patients, various extracorporeal bioartificial liver (BAL) systems have been developed. Several requirements should be met for the development of BAL systems: hepatocytes should be cultured in a sufficiently high density; their metabolic functions should be of a sufficiently high level and duration; and the BAL systems module should permit scaling-up and aseptic handling. Several investigators have found that freshly isolated primary hepatocytes can be cultured into three dimensional, tightly packed, freely suspended, multicellular aggregates, or spheroids. These specialized cell structures exhibited enhanced liver specific functions and a prolonged differentiated state compared to cells maintained in a monolayer culture. Cells in spheroids appear to mimic the morphology and ultrastructure of the in vivo liver lobule. The ability of hepatocytes to organize into three-dimensional structures was hypothesized to contribute to their enhanced liver-specific activities. In this study, the ammonia removal rate and urea secretion rate of pig hepatocytes spheroids encapsulated in Ca-alginate bead were determined. A packed-bed bioreactor with encapsulated pig hepatocytes was devised as BAL support system. The efficacy of the system was evaluated in vitro.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1994.04a
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• pp.137-144
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• 1994

Spherical multicellular aggregates of adult rat hepatocytes (spheroid) which have tissue like structure, were formed and immobilized in the pores of polyurethane foam (PUF) which was used as a culture substratum. These hepatocyte/spheroids, about 100 $\mu\textrm{m}$ in diameter, have maintained higher differentiated functions than those of hepatocyte/monolayer for about 3 weeks in serum-free medium. Then, we designed a prototype module of an artificial liver support system using a PUF/spheroid packed-bed, in which hepatocyte/spheroids were immobilized at high density. The urea synthesis activity of the artificial liver was maintained at least 10 days in 100% rat blood plasma. We start examining the performance of hybrid artificial liver in an ex vivo extracorporeal experiment with an acute hepatic failure rat.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.393-399
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• 2004

For the efficient determination of activity against solid tumors, an in vitro tumor model that resembles the condition of in vivo solid tumors, is required. The purpose of this study was to establish a rapid culture method and viability assay for an in vitro 3-dimensional tumor model, multicellular spheroid (MCS). Among 12 human cancer cell lines, a few cell lines including DLD-1 (human colorectal carcinoma cells) formed fully compact MCS which was adequate for in vitro viability assay. DLD-1 MCS showed steady growth reaching $700\;{\mu}m$ diameter after 11 day culture. DLD-1 cells grown as MCS showed significant increase in $G_0/G_1$ phase compared to the monolayer cells (73.9% vs 45.7%), but necrotic regions or apoptotic cells were not observed. The cells cultured as MCS showed resistance to 5-FU (10.3 fold higher $IC_{50}$) compared to monolayers, however, tirapazamine (a hypotoxin) showed similar activity in both culture systems. In summary, MCS may be a valid in vitro model for activity screening of anticancer agents against human solid tumors and also exploitable for studying molecular markers of drug resistance in human solid tumors.

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.266-266
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• 2006

The cell spheroid (multicellular mass) is enhanced cell functions because of the cell-cell interaction compared with the individual cell. The objective of this study is synthesis, characterization and evaluation of novel crosslinkers to form spheroid in a short time. Our approach to bridge cells is based on the crosslinking of the cell membrane via the hydrophobic interaction. The crosslinker was prepared by the reaction between ethylenediamine and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) derivative with oleyl group as hydrophobic group at the terminal group. The product was characterized with gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and FT-IR. Furthermore, cell culture experiment was also performed to confirm spheroid formation. The function of prepared spheroids was evaluated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1994.04a
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• pp.129-130
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• 1994

The science of toxicology is the understanding of the mechanisms by which exogenous agents produce deleterious effects in biological systems. The actions of chemicals such as drugs are ultimately exerted at the cellular and gene levels. Over the past decade. several in vitro alternative methods such as cultured cells for assessing the toxicity of various xenobiotics have been proposed to reduce the use of animals. In this workshop three advanced methods will be presented. These methods are novel important models for toxicologic studies. Dr. Tabuchis group has establishcd two immortalized gastric surface mucosa cell lines from the pminary cultore of gastric fundic mucosal cells of adult transgenic mice harboring a temperature sensitive simian virus 40 large T-anugen gene. As the immortalized cell lines of various tissues possess unique characteristics to maintain their normal functions for several months, these cell lines are extremely useful for not only toxicity testing but also pharmacological screening in new drug development. Professor Funatsu have studied the formation of spherical multicelluar aggregates of adult rat hepatocytes(spheroid) having tissue like structure. The sphcroid shown thre is a prototype module of an artificial liver support system. Thus, the urea synthesis activity of the artificial liver was maintained at least to days in 100％ rat blood plasma. Dr. Takezawa and his coworkers have developed a novel culture system of multicellular spheroids considered 〃organoids〃 by utilizing a thermo-responsive polymer as a substratum of anchorage dependent cells. His final goal is to reconstitute the organoids of various normal organs, e.g., liver, skin etc. and also abnormal deseased organs such as tumor.