Summary
Published in International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2026), this peer-reviewed study used 3D Petri Dish® micro-molds to form scaffold-free 3D microtissues. Full citation: Castro, Maria Miguel, et al. From Luminal to Triple Negative: 3D Spheroids Reveal Molecular and Phenotypic Differences Across Breast Cancer Subtypes
From Luminal to Triple Negative: 3D Spheroids Reveal Molecular and Phenotypic Differences Across Breast Cancer Subtypes
Research Overview
Breast cancer spans distinct molecular subtypes — Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2-enriched, Basal-like, and Claudin-low — yet most studies still rely on 2D culture. This work generated and characterized 3D spheroids from cell lines representing the different subtypes to see how well they carry subtype identity into three dimensions.
Morphology split cleanly: MCF-7/AZ, T47D, BT474, MDA-IBC-3, BT-20, and SUM149PT formed compact spheroids, while MDA-MB-468, SK-BR-3, and MDA-MB-231 formed loosely adhered ones — all retaining key parental biomarkers. Viability fell as spheroids grew, but apoptotic cleaved-caspase-3 staining was confined to Basal-like spheroids. Compact spheroids expressed E- and/or P-cadherin, indicating epithelial or hybrid EMT traits, whereas loose spheroids expressed vimentin, consistent with a mesenchymal phenotype.
Key Discoveries
- Nine breast cancer lines across molecular subtypes formed either compact or loosely adhered spheroids while retaining subtype markers
- Apoptotic cleaved-caspase-3 staining appeared only in Basal-like spheroids
- Compact spheroids were cadherin-positive (epithelial/hybrid EMT); loose spheroids were vimentin-positive (mesenchymal)
