Ovarian cancer (OC) is the most common cause of cancer deaths among gynecological malignancies. OC ascites contain multicellular spheroid aggregates, which exhibit increased pro-survival signaling, invasive behavior, and chemotherapeutic resistance. OC cells are characterized by an increased expression of the pro-inflammatory and pro-angiogenic chemokine interleukin-8 (IL-8, CXCL8), which increases their survival and migration, thus contributing to OC metastasis and angiogenesis. While previous studies have shown that IL-8 increases proliferation of OC cells grown in monolayer cultures, the effect of IL-8 on proliferation of OC cells grown in 3D spheroids has not been investigated. The spheroid 3D culture assays have been particularly useful in translational research since they allow cell-to-cell interactions that resemble tumor growth in vivo, while allowing easy cell manipulations and visualization. Here, we used the 3D spheroid culture assay to investigate the effect of IL-8 on OC cell proliferation. Using this assay, our results show that IL-8 significantly increases proliferation of OC cells grown in 3D spheroids.
Keywords: 3D culture; CXCL8; Cancer cell proliferation; Interleukin-8; Ovarian cancer; Spheroid formation.