Metal–Organic Framework Mediated Radio‐Enhancement Assessed in High‐Throughput‐Compatible 3D Tumor Spheroid Co‐Cultures

Abstract

AbstractInorganic nanomaterials have gained increasing attention in radiation oncology, owing to their radiation therapy enhancing properties. To accelerate candidate material selection and overcome the disconnect between conventional 2D cell culture and in vivo findings, screening platforms unifying high‐throughput with physiologically relevant endpoint analysis based on 3D in vitro models are promising. Here, a 3D tumor spheroid co‐culture model based on cancerous and healthy human cells is presented for the concurrent assessment of radio‐enhancement efficacy, toxicity, and intratissural biodistribution with full ultrastructural context of radioenhancer candidate materials. Its potential for rapid candidate materials screening is showcased based on the example of nano‐sized metal–organic frameworks (nMOFs) and direct benchmarking against gold nanoparticles (the current “gold standard”). Dose enhancement factors (DEFs) ranging between 1.4 and 1.8 are measured for Hf‐, Ti‐, TiZr‐, and Au‐based materials in 3D tissues and are overall lower than in 2D cell cultures, where DEF values exceeding 2 are found. In summary, the presented co‐cultured tumor spheroid—healthy fibroblast model with tissue‐like characteristics may serve as high‐throughput platform enabling rapid, cell line‐specific endpoint analysis for therapeutic efficacy and toxicity assessment, as well as accelerated radio‐enhancer candidate screening.