Assessing Cell Viability and Death in 3D Spheroid Cultures of Cancer Cells

Summary

Here, we present several simple methods for evaluating viability and death in 3D cancer cell spheroids, which mimic the physico-chemical gradients of in vivo tumors much better than the 2D culture. The spheroid model, therefore, allows evaluation of the cancer drug efficacy with improved translation to in vivo conditions.

Abstract

Three-dimensional spheroids of cancer cells are important tools for both cancer drug screens and for gaining mechanistic insight into cancer cell biology. The power of this preparation lies in its ability to mimic many aspects of the in vivo conditions of tumors while being fast, cheap, and versatile enough to allow relatively high-throughput screening. The spheroid culture conditions can recapitulate the physico-chemical gradients in a tumor, including the increasing extracellular acidity, increased lactate, and decreasing glucose and oxygen availability, from the spheroid periphery to its core. Also, the mechanical properties and cell-cell interactions of in vivo tumors are in part mimicked by this model. The specific properties and consequently the optimal growth conditions, of 3D spheroids, differ widely between different types of cancer cells. Furthermore, the assessment of cell viability and death in 3D spheroids requires methods that differ in part from those employed for 2D cultures. Here we describe several protocols for preparing 3D spheroids of cancer cells, and for using such cultures to assess cell viability and death in the context of evaluating the efficacy of anticancer drugs.

Introduction

The use of multicellular spheroid models in cancer biology is several decades old^1,2, but has gained substantial momentum in recent years. In large part, this reflects increased awareness of how strongly the phenotype of cancer cells is dependent on their microenvironment and specific growth conditions. The microenvironment in solid tumors is fundamentally different from that in corresponding normal tissues. This includes physico-chemical conditions such as pH, oxygen tension, as well as interstitial pressure, concentration gradients of soluble factors such as nutrients, waste products, and secreted signaling ....

Protocol

1. Generation of Spheroids

1. Preparing cell suspensions for spheroid formation
   NOTE: Different cell lines have very different adhesion properties and the most suitable spheroid formation protocol must be established in each case. We have found that MCF-7 and BxPC-3 cells are suitable for spontaneous spheroid formation, while MDA-MB-231, SKBr-3, Panc-1 and MiaPaCa require the addition of reconstituted basement membrane to successfully form spheroids. Only MDA-MB-231 and BxPC-3 cells have been employed for the hanging drop protocol, however other cell lines are certainly applicable.
   1. Grow cells as monolayer until 70-80% ....

Results

Spheroid growth assays based on the spheroid formation protocol schematically illustrated in Figure 1A and Figure 1B, were used as a starting point for analysis of the effects of anti-cancer drug treatments in a 3D tumor mimicking setting. The ease with which spheroids are formed is cell line specific, and some cell lines require supplementation with rBM in order to form coherent spheroids²². The concentr.......

Discussion

The use of 3D cancer cell spheroids has proven a valuable and versatile tool not only for anticancer drug screening, but also for gaining mechanistic insight into the regulation of cancer cell death and viability under conditions mimicking those in the tumor microenvironment. This is particularly crucial as the accessibility, cellular uptake, and intracellular effects of chemotherapeutic drugs are profoundly impacted by the physico-chemical conditions in the tumor, including pH, oxygen tension, tortuosity, and physical a.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
2-(4-amidinophenyl)-1H-indole-6-carboxamidine (DAPI)	Invitrogen	# C10595	For staining nuclei
5-Fluorouracil (5-FU)	Sigma-Aldrich	#F6627	Component in chemotherapeutic treatment
5-(N-ethyl-isopropyl) amiloride (EIPA)	Life Technologies	#E3111	Inhibitor of NHE1
Antibody against PARP and cPARP	Cell signaling	#9542	Used in western blotting
Antibody against Ki-67	Cell signaling	#9449	Used for IHC
Antibody against p53	Cell Signaling	#2524	Used for IHC
Antibody against β-actin	Sigma	A5441	Used in western blotting
Bactoagar	BD Bioscience	#214010	Used for agarose gel preparation
Benchmark protein ladder	Invitrogen	#10747-012	Used for SDS-PAGE
Bio-Rad DC Protein Assay kit	Bio-Rad Laboratories	#500-0113, #500-0114, #500-0115	Used for protein determination from lysates
Bürker chamber	Marienfeld	610311	For cell counting
BX63 epifluoresence microscope	Olympus		Used for fluorescent imaging
CellTiter-Glo 3D Cell Viability Assay	Promega	#G9681	Used for the cell viability assay
Cisplatin	Sigma-Aldrich	#P4394	Component in chemotherapeutic treatment
Corning Spheroid Microplate, 96 well, Black with clear round bottom,  Ultra-low attachment, With lid, Sterile	Corning	#4520	Used for growing spheroids with luminescence measurements as end point
Corning 96 well, clear round bottom,  Ultra-low attachment microplate, With lid, Sterile	Corning	#7007	Sufficient for spheroid growth without luminescence measurements as end point
Criterion TGX Precast Gels	Bio-Rad	5671025	Used for SDS-PAGE
Doxorubicin	Abcam	#120629	Component in chemotherapeutic treatment
FLUOStar Optima Microplate reader	BMG Labtech		Used for recording luminescence
Formaldehyde	VWR Chemicals	#9713.1000	Used for cell fixation
Geltrex LDEV-Free Reduced Growth Factor Basement Membrane Matrix	Gibco	#A1413202	Keep at 4 °C to prevent solidification. Referred to as rBM in the protocol.
Heat-inactivated FBS	Sigma	#F9665	Serum for growth media
ImageJ	NIH		Scientific Image analysis
Medim Uni-safe casette	Medim Histotechnologie	10-0114	Used for storage of embedded spheroids
Mini protease inhibitor cocktail tablets	Roche Diagnostics GmBH	# 11836153001	Used for lysis buffer preparation
MZ16 microscope	Leica		Used for light microscopic images
NuPAGE LDS 4x Sample Buffer	Invitrogen	#NP0007	Used for western blotting
Pierce ECL Western blotting substrate	Thermo scientific	#32106	Used for western blotting
Ponceau S	Sigma-Aldrich	#P7170-1L	Used for protein band staining
Prism 6.0	Graphpad		Scientific graphing and statistical software
Propidium iodide (1mg/ml solution in water)	Invitrogen	P3566	Light sensitive
Sterile reservoirs, multichannel	SPL lifesciences	21002	Used for seeding cells for spheroid formation
Superfrost Ultra-Plus Adhesion slide	Menzel-Gläser	#J3800AMNZ	Microscope glass slide used for embedding
Tamoxifen	Sigma-Aldrich	#T5648	Used as chemotherapeutic treatment
Trans-blot Turbo 0.2 µm nitrocellulose membranes	Bio-Rad	#170-4159	Used for western blotting
Tris/Glycine/SDS running buffer	Bio-Rad	#161 0732	Used for SDS-PAGE
Trypsin-EDTA solution	Sigma	#T4174	Cell dissociation enzyme