Tumor‐derived spheroids: Relevance to cancer stem cells and clinical applications

Recently, many types of in vitro 3-D culture systems have been developed to recapitulate the in vivo growth conditions of cancer. The cancer 3-D culture methods aim to preserve the biological characteristics of original tumors better than conventional 2-D monolayer cultures, and include tumor-derived organoids, tumor-derived spheroids, organotypic multicellular spheroids, and multicellular tumor spheroids. The 3-D culture methods differ in terms of cancer cell sources, protocols for cell handling, and the required time intervals. Tumor-derived spheroids are unique because they are purposed for the enrichment of cancer stem cells (CSCs) or cells with stem cell-related characteristics. These spheroids are grown…

• NC
  National Cancer Center
• JA
  Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development
• MO
  Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
• JS
  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science