Multi-Inlet Spheroid Generator for High-Throughput Combinatorial Drug Screening Based on the Tumor Microenvironment

Tumor spheroids are powerful tools for drug screening and understanding tumor physiology. Among spheroid formation methods, the hanging drop method is considered most suitable for high-throughput screening (HTS) of anticancer drugs because it does not require surface treatment. However, it still needs to increase the liquid-holding capacity because hanging drops often fall due to the increased pressure caused by the addition of drugs, cells, etc. Here, we report a multi-inlet spheroid generator (MSG) enabling the stable addition of liquid-containing drugs or cells into a spheroid through its side inlet. The MSG was able to load additional solutions through the side inlet without increasing the force applied to the hanging drop. The volume of the additional liquid was easily controlled by varying the diameter of the side inlet. Furthermore, the sequences of the solution injections were manipulated using multiple side inlets. The feasibility of the MSG in clinical application was demonstrated by testing the efficacy of drugs in patient-derived cancer (PDC) cells and controlling the stromal cell ratio in the tumor microenvironment (TME) containing spheroids. Our results suggest that the MSG is a versatile platform for HTS of anticancer drugs and recapitulating the TME.