ArticleTissue engineering. Part C, Methods2016
Generation of Homogenous Three-Dimensional Pancreatic Cancer Cell Spheroids Using an Improved Hanging Drop Technique.
Article in Tissue engineering. Part C, Methods, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 88 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
88 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Unlocking the Potential of Spheroids in Personalized Medicine: A Systematic Review of Seeding Methodologies.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Spheroid cultures reveal cancer stem cell enrichment and distinct chemotherapeutic response in triple-negative breast cancer.BMC cancer · 2026Article
- Benchmarking Ultra-Low Attachment and Photopatterned GelMA 3D Culture Platforms for Modeling Cancer Stemness in High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer.Biotechnology journal · 2026Article
- Article
- Spheroids reveal hypoxia‑driven spatial restriction of adenoviral infection.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Aquaporin-3 and aquaporin-5 impact the development of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma spheroids.FEBS open bio · 2026Article
- GelMA Versus Agarose Hydrogels in Pancreatic Cancer 3D Spheroid Modeling: Effects on Morphology, HIF-1α Expression, and Gemcitabine Response.Gels (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- An overview of the developments in 3D cancer cell models, assay techniques, and imaging modalities.Human cell · 2026Review
- Generation of In Vivo-Inspired 3D Collagen Models for Guided Tumor Invasion In Vitro.Current protocols · 2026Article
- Context-dependent inhibitory roles of RhoA in 3D invasive cell migration within the extracellular matrix.Cell reports · 2025Article
- The 3D World of Spheroids: Searching for an Optimal Method of Fabricating Pro-Reparative Cardiospheres.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Effect of microbubble-assisted gemcitabine delivery with repeated ultrasound exposure in a pancreatic cancer organ-on-a-chip model.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Cold Atmospheric Plasma Selectively Disrupts Breast Cancer Growth in a Bioprinted 3D Tumor-Stroma Co-Culture Model.Advanced healthcare materials · 2025Article
- Pyrimethamine Triggers the Apoptotic Pathway in Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma in Cell-Based Models.Journal of oral pathology & medicine : official publication of the International Association of Oral Pathologists and the American Academy of Oral Pathology · 2025Article
- Article
- Fluorescent Molecular Probe for Imaging Hypoxia in 2D Cell Culture Monolayers and 3D Tumor Spheroids: The Cell Membrane Partition Model for Predicting Probe Distribution in a Spheroid.ACS applied materials & interfaces · 2025Article
- Mapping Tumor-Stroma-ECM Interactions in Spatially Advanced 3D Models of Pancreatic Cancer.ACS applied materials & interfaces · 2025Article
- Principles of Hanging Drop Method (Spheroid Formation) in Cell Culture.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2025Article
- A promising breakthrough in pancreatic cancer research: The potential of spheroids as 3D models.BioImpacts : BI · 2025Review
- Diabetes current and future translatable therapies.Endocrine · 2024Review
28 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
In vitro characterization of tumor cell biology or of potential anticancer drugs is usually performed using tumor cell lines cultured as a monolayer. However, it has been previously shown that three-dimensional (3D) organization of the tumor cells is important to provide insights on tumor biology and transport of therapeutics. Several methods to create 3D tumors in vitro have been proposed, with hanging drop technique being the most simple and, thus, most frequently used. However, in many cell lines this method has failed to form the desired 3D tumor structures. The aim of this study was to design and test an easy-to-use and highly reproducible modification of the hanging drop method for tumor sphere formation by adding methylcellulose polymer. Most pancreatic cancer cells do not form cohesive and manageable spheres when the original hanging drop method is used, thus we investigated these cell lines for our modified hanging drop method. The spheroids produced by this improved technique were analyzed by histology, light microscopy, immunohistochemistry, and scanning electron microscopy. Results show that using the proposed simple method; we were able to produce uniform spheroids for all five of the tested human pancreatic cancer cell lines; Panc-1, BxPC-3, Capan-1, MiaPaCa-2, and AsPC-1. We believe that this method can be used as a reliable and reproducible technique to make 3D cancer spheroids for use in tumor biology research and evaluation of therapeutic responses, and for the development of bio-artificial tissues.
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