The Importance of Spheroids in Analyzing Nanomedicine Efficacy

Abstract

<jats:p> The use of nanomedicines for cancer treatment holds a great potential due to their improved efficacy and safety. During the nanomedicine preclinical in vitro evaluation stage, these are mainly tested on cell culture monolayers. However, these 2D models are an unrealistic representation of the in vivo tumors, leading to an inaccurate screening of the candidate formulations. To address this problem, spheroids are emerging as an additional tool to validate the efficacy of new therapeutics due to the ability of these 3D in vitro cancer models to mimic the key features displayed by in vivo solid tumors. In this review, the application of spheroids for the evaluation of nanomedicines’ physicochemical properties and therapeutic efficacy is discussed. </jats:p>

Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications

“…evidenced the importance of using biomimetic 3D cellular aggregates as in vitro tumor models by studying the role of sulfobetaine methacrylate functionalized nanoparticles as enablers of combined photochemotherapy. [ 6 ] Peptide‐based nanomaterials are also highlighted in this special issue by Deso et al., who addressed multi‐layered nanocomposites for near‐infrared light‐triggered release of drugs to treat breast cancer. [ 7 ] Finally, the rising field of immunoengineering is addressed by Demircan et al.…”

Single Plane Illumination Microscopy for Microfluidic Device Imaging

“…Among the different types of 3D cell culture systems, spheroids are spherical aggregates of cells relevant to the study of tumor models and stem cell research [ 47 ]. In oncology studies, spheroids present a much more realistic representation of the in vivo tumors than traditional 2D cell cultures, which makes them a useful tool for assessing novel cancer therapies [ 48 ].…”

Organoid Technology: A Reliable Developmental Biology Tool for Organ-Specific Nanotoxicity Evaluation

“…The prominent clinical applications of organoid technology include disease modeling, organ development experiments, regenerative/transplant medicine, precision medicine, and development of conventional as well as nano-drugs ( Figure 3 ; Xu et al, 2018a ). Organoids carry enormous utility in every stage of drug development experiments: from efficacy analyses, kinetic studies to toxicity assessment ( Weeber et al, 2017 ; Takahashi, 2018 ; Xu et al, 2018a ; Miranda and Cabral, 2020 ; Mó et al, 2020 ; Liu et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Several organoids including the intestine, kidney, lung, liver, pancreas, and brain organoids have been developed from diverse cell origins using these engineered matrices (Cruz-Acuña and García, 2019;Kratochvil et al, 2019;Aisenbrey and Murphy, 2020;Singh and Lutolf, 2020;Hofer and Lutolf, 2021;Zhang et al, 2021). Organoids differ from spheroids in terms of the latter which is usually developed from cancer cell lines or tumor biopsies and resembles a multicellular tumor model made by non-adherent cancer cell aggregates while the former is embedded within the matrix with a more ordered configuration mimicking the respective organ (Sutherland et al, 1971;Lazzari et al, 2017;Białkowska et al, 2020;Mó et al, 2020;Velasco V. et al, 2020). The prominent clinical applications of organoid technology include disease modeling, organ development experiments, regenerative/transplant medicine, precision medicine, and development of conventional as well as nano-drugs (Figure 3; Xu et al, 2018a).…”