Open Access

ARTICLE

Growth and Invasion of 3D Spheroid Tumor of HeLa and CasKi Cervical Cancer Cells

Kalaivani Muniandy¹, Zuhaida Asra Ahmad^1,4, Sylvia Annabel Dass¹, Shaharum Shamsuddin², Nethia Mohana Kumaran³, Venugopal Balakrishnan^1,*

1 Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, 11800, Malaysia
2 School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Health Campus, Kelantan, 16150, Malaysia
3 School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, 11800, Malaysia
4 Institute for Clinical Research (ICR), National Institute of Health (NIH), Sekesyen U13, Bandar Setia Alam, Shah Alam, 41070, Selangor, Malaysia

* Corresponding Author: Venugopal Balakrishnan. Email:

Oncologie 2021, 23(2), 279-291. https://doi.org/10.32604/Oncologie.2021.015969

Received 27 January 2021; Accepted 20 May 2021; Issue published 22 June 2021

Abstract

Spheroids are generally self-assembled cells with the ability to generate their extracellular matrix, including the complex cell-matrix and the cell-cell interactions that resemble the functional characteristics of the corresponding tissue in vivo. The study aimed to develop a three-dimensional (3D) spheroid system for the cervical cancer cell lines, HeLa (HPV18), CaSki (HPV16), SiHa (HPV16), C33A (non-HPV), HT3 (non-HPV) as well as to identify its biological activity in the extracellular form. For the formation of the cervical cancer spheroids, the liquid overlay approach was applied, followed by embedding to the bovine collagen I matrix. Spheroid formation using the liquid overlay approach is achieved by growing the cells on a non-adhesive surface to prevent cellular adhesion, resulting in the cells forming aggregates and, subsequently, the spheroids. The obtained data shows the definite biological behavior of each of the particular cervical cancer cell lines, indicating that cells adapt their natural phenotype in a three-dimensional microenvironment.

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Keywords

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