3D Biomatrix Releases White Paper on 3D Cell Culture as an Early-Stage Oncology Drug Discovery Tool

April 12, 2012 -- 3D Biomatrix, which develops and sells tools for drug discovery research and testing that mimic the human cellular environment, has released a white paper that describes the relevance of three dimensional (3D) spheroid cultures to oncology drug discovery, and the use of Perfecta3D™ Hanging Drop Plates to generate monoculture and co-culture 3D spheroids and test them against anti-cancer drugs.

3D Biomatrix, a life sciences company developing and marketing revolutionary solutions for three dimensional (3D) cell cultures, has released a white paper highlighting the demonstrating of 3D spheroid cultures to in vitro oncology drug testing. The paper focuses on the generation of uniform and controllable spheroids within Perfecta3DTM Hanging Drop Plates, the use of the plates to test oncology drugs on 3D spheroids, and on the formation of several co-culture spheroid patterns that increase the relevance to in vivo tumors of 3D spheroids.

The white paper highlights oncology drug testing data presented in the journal Analyst1 that demonstrates that the drug toxicity profile will vary greatly depending on if drugs are tested in two-dimensional (2D) or 3D cultures. The mechanisms of many drugs depend on the 3D structure of human tissues (e.g., hypoxia-trigger cytotoxins) may not be represented in 2D formats. The white paper continues to describe several configurations of co-cultures, originally published in the journal Biotechnology and Bioengineering2, that by including several cell types will increase the relevance of spheroid cultures to in vivo tissues. Furthermore, these co-culture patterns can advance studies on cellular migration and metastasis, cell-cell signaling, and other cell-cell interactions.

“3D cell and spheroid cultures can greatly increase the relevance of in vitro drug testing data, specifically for oncology drugs, because they are the best human body model early in the research process,” says 3D Biomatrix CEO Laura Schrader. “The industry and patients alike can only benefit, and this white paper will convince researchers of how necessary 3D cell cultures are in oncology drug testing.”

A downloadable version of the white paper is available at the 3D Biomatrix website.

1Tung et al. High-throughput 3D spheroid culture and drug testing using 384 hanging drop array. Analyst, 2011, 136, 473-478. 2Hsiao et al. 384 Hanging Drop Arrays Give Excellent Z-factors and Allow Versatile Formation of Co-culture Spheroids. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 2011.

About the Company

3D Biomatrix, LLC is a life sciences company developing and marketing revolutionary solutions for three dimensional (3D) cell cultures. Cells grown on 3D Biomatrix products have been shown to retain a much higher complexity of body response than cells grown in traditional two-dimensional plates and flasks.

www.3dbiomatrix.com

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