Development of a three-dimensional model of lung cancer using cultured transformed lung cells.

Despite great strides in understanding cancer biology, the role cellular differentiation and three-dimensional (3-D) structural organization play in metastasis and malignancy remains unclear. Development of 3-D cultures may ultimately provide a model facilitating discovery and interpretation of more relevant information for the expression and role of antibodies in lung cellular pathobiology. The purpose was to develop traditional monolayer (ML) and 3-D cultures of a known transformed metastatic lung cell line and then determine similarities and differences between cultures in terms of differentiation, molecular marker expression and metastasis.

Cellular differentiation in three-dimensional lung cell cultures.

Introduction: Aspects of human biology that are not sufficiently addressed by current cell culture models are cellular differentiation and three-dimensional (3-D) structural organization. A model that more closely associates the presence and biology of organelles to molecular expressions relevant to these organelles may provide evidence of cellular differentiation and the beginning steps in the construction of a 3-D architecture. The development of a new model--3-D cell cultures--may ultimately provide a better understanding of lung biology and pathobiology.