Methods of screening chemotherapeutic agents and treating cancer

摘要

Methods for selecting chemotherapeutic agents for treating a cancer are provided that include the steps of providing a cancer cell sample having a population of bulk cancer cells and a population of cancer stem-like cells, culturing a first portion of the cancer cell sample in a hydrodynamic focusing bioreactor under microgravity conditions and for a period of time to selectively enhance the population of cancer stem-like cells and selectively kill the population of bulk cancer cells, contacting the cancer stem-like cells with one or more chemotherapeutic agents, and then selecting the one or more chemotherapeutic agents for treating the cancer if there is an increase in an amount of cytotoxicity. Methods for treating a cancer are also provided in which the identified chemotherapeutic agents are administered to a subject. Further provided are methods for identifying a test compound useful for treating a cancer.

主权项

1. A method for identifying one or more chemotherapeutic agents for treating a cancer, comprising:
providing a cancer cell sample including a population of bulk cancer cells and a population of cancer stem-like cells; culturing a first portion of the cancer cell sample in a hydrodynamic focusing bioreactor under microgravity conditions and for a period of time sufficient to selectively increase the number of cancer stem-like cells; contacting the population of cancer stem-like cells with one or more chemotherapeutic agents; and detecting whether the one or more chemotherapeutic agents are cytotoxic or not to the cancer stem-like cell, thereby identifying the one or more chemotherapeutic agents.