Final published version
Licence: CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Article number | 781 |
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<mark>Journal publication date</mark> | 24/06/2021 |
<mark>Journal</mark> | Communications Biology |
Issue number | 1 |
Volume | 4 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Publication Status | Published |
<mark>Original language</mark> | English |
Investigational in vitro models that reflect the complexity of the interaction between the immune system and tumours are limited and difficult to establish. Herein, we present a platform to study the tumour-immune interaction using a co-culture between cancer spheroids and activated immune cells. An algorithm was developed for analysis of confocal images of the co-culture to evaluate the following quantitatively; immune cell infiltration, spheroid roundness and spheroid growth. As a proof of concept, the effect of the glucocorticoid stress hormone, cortisol was tested on 66CL4 co-culture model. Results were comparable to 66CL4 syngeneic in vivo mouse model undergoing psychological stress. Furthermore, administration of glucocorticoid receptor antagonists demonstrated the use of this model to determine the effect of treatments on the immune-tumour interplay. In conclusion, we provide a method of quantifying the interaction between the immune system and cancer, which can become a screening tool in immunotherapy design.