{"title":"Novel bioassays based on 3D-printed device for sensing of hypoxia and p53 pathway in 3D cell models.","authors":"Maria Maddalena Calabretta, Maura Ferri, Annalisa Tassoni, Stefania Maiello, Elisa Michelini","doi":"10.1007/s00216-024-05606-0","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cell-based assays are widely exploited for drug screening and biosensing, providing useful information about bioactivity of target analytes and complex biological samples. It is well recognized that 3D cell models are required to achieve highly valuable information, also from the perspective of replacing animal models. However, bioassays relying on 3D cell models are generally highly demanding in terms of facilities, equipment, and skilled personnel requirements. To reduce cost, increase sustainability, and provide a flexible 3D cell-based platform for bioassays, we here report a novel approach based on a 3D-printed microtissue device. To assess the suitability of this strategy for reporter gene technology, we selected to monitor two molecular pathways which were of interest in several applications, hypoxia signaling and the p53 pathway. The investigation of such pathways is highly relevant in fields spanning from drug screening to bioactivity monitoring for industrial by-product valorization. Microtissues of human hepatocarcinoma (HepG2) and human embryonic kidney (Hek293T) cell lines were obtained with a low-cost and sustainable chip platform and bioassays were developed to monitor the hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) and the p53 tumor suppressor pathway. HepG2 and Hek293T 3D cell models were genetically engineered to express the Luc2P from Photinus pyralis firefly either under the regulation of p53 or HIF response elements. The bioassays allowed quantitative assessment of hypoxia and tumoral activity with 1,10-phenanthroline for HIF and with doxorubicin for p53 pathway activation, respectively, showing good potential for applications of this sustainable and low-cost 3D-printed microfluidic platform for bioactivity analyses, drug screening, and precision medicine.</p>","PeriodicalId":462,"journal":{"name":"Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry","volume":" ","pages":"6819-6826"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry","FirstCategoryId":"92","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-024-05606-0","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/10/19 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BIOCHEMICAL RESEARCH METHODS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Cell-based assays are widely exploited for drug screening and biosensing, providing useful information about bioactivity of target analytes and complex biological samples. It is well recognized that 3D cell models are required to achieve highly valuable information, also from the perspective of replacing animal models. However, bioassays relying on 3D cell models are generally highly demanding in terms of facilities, equipment, and skilled personnel requirements. To reduce cost, increase sustainability, and provide a flexible 3D cell-based platform for bioassays, we here report a novel approach based on a 3D-printed microtissue device. To assess the suitability of this strategy for reporter gene technology, we selected to monitor two molecular pathways which were of interest in several applications, hypoxia signaling and the p53 pathway. The investigation of such pathways is highly relevant in fields spanning from drug screening to bioactivity monitoring for industrial by-product valorization. Microtissues of human hepatocarcinoma (HepG2) and human embryonic kidney (Hek293T) cell lines were obtained with a low-cost and sustainable chip platform and bioassays were developed to monitor the hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) and the p53 tumor suppressor pathway. HepG2 and Hek293T 3D cell models were genetically engineered to express the Luc2P from Photinus pyralis firefly either under the regulation of p53 or HIF response elements. The bioassays allowed quantitative assessment of hypoxia and tumoral activity with 1,10-phenanthroline for HIF and with doxorubicin for p53 pathway activation, respectively, showing good potential for applications of this sustainable and low-cost 3D-printed microfluidic platform for bioactivity analyses, drug screening, and precision medicine.
期刊介绍:
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry’s mission is the rapid publication of excellent and high-impact research articles on fundamental and applied topics of analytical and bioanalytical measurement science. Its scope is broad, and ranges from novel measurement platforms and their characterization to multidisciplinary approaches that effectively address important scientific problems. The Editors encourage submissions presenting innovative analytical research in concept, instrumentation, methods, and/or applications, including: mass spectrometry, spectroscopy, and electroanalysis; advanced separations; analytical strategies in “-omics” and imaging, bioanalysis, and sampling; miniaturized devices, medical diagnostics, sensors; analytical characterization of nano- and biomaterials; chemometrics and advanced data analysis.