Cell Culture in Cancer Drug Discovery and Development (Review)

Cell Culture in Cancer Drug Discovery and Development (Review)
Fatemeh Mohammad-Rafiei,¹ Behzad Behnam,^2,*
1. Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences
2. pharmaceutics research center, school of pharmacy, Kerman University of Medical Sciences
Introduction: The process of drug discovery and development is a complex, expensive, and time-consuming . By the 1950s, cellular biology symposia discussed using cell culture as a technique for studying drug behavior independently and in combination with other drugs. These cell-based studies, especially in monolayer cultures, have improved our knowledge of the cellular processes involved in tumor biology. While traditional drug testing such as 2D culture is widely used due to its simplicity and scalability and offers a direct method to examining direct interactions between drugs and cells, its limitations—including the lack of tissue architecture and poor representation of drug behavior in the human body as well as the important role of immune cells in cancer—prompted the development of more sophisticated models, enabled better mimicry of human physiology. Today, the introduction of co-cultures, 3D culture systems, organoids, spheroids, and also microfluidic platforms are pushing away the above boundaries. In the following sections, we will discuss how cell culture platforms shape drug discovery and development while addressing current challenges and prospects.
Methods: This study has been performed by searching various texts, authoritative scientific articles, and several keywords such as drug discovery, cancer ,2D and 3D cell culture, and so on to find all relevant publications on the role of cell culture in drug discovery and development in cancer.
Results: According to the findings, Cell culture has become a cornerstone of drug discovery and development, These systems serve as essential tools for early-stage screening, and toxicity testing which reduces reliance on animal models. Although the advantages of conventional 2D cell culture in pharmaceutical research should not be forgotten, they may not fully capture the complexity of biological interactions in the human body and guide to misleading information. nowadays we confront some innovations including 3D models such as spheroids, organoids, and scaffold-based cultures that replicate cell-cell interactions of tissues. These systems better predict in vivo drug responses, particularly for anticancer drugs. The other system is the use of Microfluidic organ-on-chip platforms combines cell culture. The microfluidics-based 2D and 3D cell culture systems better mimic in vivo microenvironment and enable real-time monitoring of drug effects. Another one is Co-culture systems, such as immune cells and tumor cells, are particularly valuable for studying immunotherapy and drug-resistance mechanisms. Overall, using these different systems can provide benefits including: (A) making the possibility of High-Throughput Screening with some recent advancements, such as high-content imaging and CRISPR-based functional screens, to study thousands of compounds for biological activity and enabling researchers to assess complex cellular phenotypes and drug-target interactions,(B) evaluating drug toxicity before animal or human studies, creation of disease-specific models, particularly for cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, and infectious diseases. (C) facilitate the study of drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME).
Conclusion: Overall, By Using cell culture systems screening, toxicity testing, and disease modeling are possible now. However, to discover the maximum potential of these technologies, challenges like reproducibility and scalability must be handled. Looking to the future, the integration of advanced cell culture systems with emerging technologies may improve efficiency and accuracy, robust data extraction, screening numerous conditions, and predicting preclinical responses which will lead to more effective, personalized, and ethical drug development, finally enhancing patient outcomes.
Keywords: drug discovery, cancer cell, 2D cell culture ,3D cell culture