转移导致癌症死亡率增加，但其复杂机制仍不清楚。来自原发肿瘤的癌细胞侵入附近组织并进入淋巴或循环系统。如果这些细胞能够存活并从脉管系统渗出到远处组织并最终适应生存，它们就会增殖并促进恶性肿瘤的形成。传统的二维（2D）细胞培养为在合理的成本范围内验证抗癌药物的疗效提供了一种快速便捷的方法，但由于肿瘤在体内的高度异质性和空间复杂性，其实用性受到限制。模仿体内癌细胞生理条件的三维（3D）细胞培养物引起了人们极大的兴趣。在这些培养物中，细胞通过重力、磁力或其对平板的低粘附力组装成球体。尽管这些方法解决了 2D 培养的一些局限性，但它们通常需要大量的时间和成本。因此，本研究旨在通过使用微流控系统来提高3D培养技术的有效性，为药物筛选提供高通量和灵敏的管道。使用这些系统，我们研究了在癌症治疗中引起人们兴趣的镧系元素对球体形成和细胞扩散的影响。我们的研究结果表明，这些元素会改变细胞球体的致密性并降低细胞移动性。版权所有 © 2024 Elsevier B.V. 保留所有权利。

Metastasis contributes to the increased mortality rate of cancer, but the intricate mechanisms remain unclear. Cancer cells from a primary tumor invade nearby tissues and access the lymphatic or circulatory system. If these cells manage to survive and extravasate from the vasculature into distant tissues and ultimately adapt to survive, they will proliferate and facilitate malignant tumor formation. Traditional two-dimensional (2D) cell cultures offer a rapid and convenient method for validating the efficacy of anticancer drugs within a reasonable cost range, but their utility is limited because of tumors' high heterogeneity in vivo and spatial complexities. Three-dimensional (3D) cell cultures that mimic the physiological conditions of cancer cells in vivo have gained considerable interest. In these cultures, cells assemble into spheroids through gravity, magnetic forces, or their low-adhesion to the plates. Although these approaches address some of the limitations of 2D cultures, they often require a considerable amount of time and cost. Therefore, this study aims to enhance the effectiveness of 3D culture techniques by using microfluidic systems to provide a high-throughput and sensitive pipeline for drug screening. Using these systems, we studied the effects of lanthanide elements, which have garnered interest in cancer treatment, on spheroid formation and cell spreading. Our findings suggest that these elements alter the compactness of cell spheroids and decrease cell mobility.Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.