Development of breast cancer spheroids with differential aggressiveness

Abstract

To mimic an in vivo tumor, 3 dimensional (3D) tumor models have been widely used. In this study, we have developed the breast cancer spheroids of differential aggressiveness mimicking collagen-rich microenvironment of advanced breast tumors. We first verified the different formation mechanism by analyzing the nucleus to the nucleus distance inside the spheroids and immunostaining landmark proteins like integrins and actin. We then quantitatively characterized the aggressiveness by phenotypical traits like morphology and motility to verify that the encapsulating the cancer spheroids with collagen can induce the higher metastatic aggressiveness. Similar conceptual approach can be applied in developing spheroid-based disease models.