Emerging Strategies in 3D Culture Models for Hematological Cancers.

In vitro cell cultures are fundamental and necessary tools in cancer research and personalized drug discovery. Currently, most cells are cultured using two-dimensional (2D) methods, and drug testing is mainly performed in animal models. However, new and improved methods that implement three-dimensional (3D) cell-culturing techniques provide compelling evidence that more advanced experiments can be performed, yielding valuable new insights.

Apoptosis--programmed cell death: a role in the aging process?

Cells continuously exposed to genotoxic agents, such as oxygen free radicals (OFRs), deeply involved in the aging process use a variety of cellular defense mechanisms. These defense mechanisms include DNA repair enzymes, antioxidants, poly(ADP-ribosyl)polymerase (pADPRP), and stress proteins and they constitute an integrated network. An age-related failure of the efficiency of this network can affect cell proliferation and cell death, two phenomena tightly linked and regulated.

DNA and cell death.

The type of DNA damage and the role of poly (ADP-ribosyl) polymerase (ADPRP) and sulphated glyprotein 2 (SGP-2) in programmed cell death (apoptosis) was investigated in the following model systems: i) rat thymocytes treated with dexamethasone (DEX) eitherin vitro orin vivo; ii) human perypheral blood mononuclear cells (hPBMCs) exposed to oxygen free radicals (OR); iii) K562 cell line killed by hPBCs during spontaneous (NK) or interleukin-2 (IL-2)-induced (LAK) cytotoxic activity. The results suggest that ADPRP and SGP-2 are involved in the apoptotic process, but their role probably differs according to the type of cell and the inducing damage/stimulus. Moreover, no simple correlation appears to exist between the extent of DNA damage and cell survival or cell death.