Drug development is a time-consuming and expensive process, given the low success rate of clinical trials. Now, anticancer drug developments have shifted to three-dimensional (3D) models which are more likely to mimic tumor behavior compared to traditional two-dimensional (2D) cultures. A comparative study among different aspects was conducted between 2D and 3D cultures using colorectal cancer (CRC) cell lines, in addition, Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded (FFPE) block samples of patients with CRC were used for evaluation. Compared to the 2D culture, cells grown in 3D displayed significant (p < 0.01) differences in the pattern of cell proliferation over time, cell death phase profile, expression of tumorgenicity related genes and responsiveness to 5-fluorouracil, cisplatin, and doxorubicin, compared with 2D cultured cells. Epigenetically, 3D cultures and FFPE shared the same methylation pattern and microRNA expression, while 2D cells showed elevation in methylation rate and altered microRNA expression. Lastly, transcriptomic study depending on RNA sequencing and thorough bioinformatic analyses showed significant (p-adj < 0.05) dissimilarity in gene expression profile between 2D and 3D cultures involving thousands of genes (up/down-regulated) of multiple pathways for each cell line. Taken together, the study provides insights into variation in cellular morphologies between cells cultured in 2D and 3D models.

Background: Hyponatremia is a commonly occurring electrolyte disturbance among hospitalized patients, and many studies suggest that individual serum sodium levels may have a prognostic role in assessing probability of mortality. Aim of the study: Determination of hyponatremia prevalence in patients admitted to the Oncology Teaching Hospital. Method: A six-month cross-sectional study of hyponatremia prevalence was conducted in the Oncology ward in Medical City. The patients (105) who were admitted for more than three days with different types of malignancies and causes of admission were investigated for serum sodium, blood urea, random blood sugar, and urinary sodium (single measurement). These results were compared to the sodium levels of control of non-cancer individuals (135) selected using the same exclusion criteria. Results: The prevalence of hyponatremia in the admitted patients was 43.7%, whereas it was 0.73% in the control group. Conclusion: The prevalence of hyponatremia in Oncology Teaching Hospital, Medical City ward, was higher than that reported in previous studies (conducted in international cancer centers); hypoosmolar hyponatremia prevalence is almost similar to that stated in previous studies.