Development of a High-Throughput Miniaturized 3D Multicellular Tumoroids-Based Drug Screening Platform – Neuroblastoma (NB) as an Example

Dr Wang, Xinna   (Principal Investigator (PI))

Professor Wong Kenneth Kak Yuen   (Co-Investigator)

36

2022-03-01

4025000

Development of a High-Throughput Miniaturized 3D Multicellular Tumoroids-Based Drug Screening Platform – Neuroblastoma (NB) as an Example

High-Throughput Miniaturized 3D Multicellular Tumoroids, Neuroblastoma

Others - Medicine, Dentistry and Health

Engineering (E)

MRP/047/21

Midstream Research Programme for Universities (MRP)

2021

On-going

In vitro models for drug screening are mainly 2D monolayer cultures but 3D models are more physiologically relevant and accurate in predicting drug efficacy and resistance. Take Neuroblastoma (NB) as an example, existing treatments include chemotherapy, surgical resection and radiation therapy but are still ineffective. The appropriate dosage and combinations and duration for chemotherapy still remain controversial, probably due to the high heterogeneity and diverse clinical presentation among patients. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify the best drug candidate with specific dosage and combinations for effective cancer treatments. Our team has abundant experience in developing 3D multicellular tissue organoids for tissue engineering purpose. We have previously developed a 3D tumoroid model using cancer cells such as NB cells and their mesenchymal niche cells. The NB tumoroids exhibited some unique histological features mimicking that of the native NB tissues, suggesting that this model nicely recapitulates the native tumor microenvironment. Here, using NB as an example, we aim to develop a high-throughput, miniaturized, high content imaging-based, 3D multi-cellular tumoroids platform for drug screening. Specifically, we aim to (1) establish an automatic high-throughput miniaturized 3D tumoroid fabrication system; (2) establish high content imaging-based 3D tumoroid cytotoxicity and metastasis detection systems; and (3) conduct pilot validation of the tumoroid-based drug screening platform.