| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are thought to be capable of surviving conventional chemotherapeutic treatments because the cells have more resistant to anticancer drugs than common cancer cells. Most <it>in vitro</it> studies in experimental cancer cells have been done in a two-dimensional (2D) monocultures, while accumulating evidence suggests that cancer cells behave differently when they are grown within a three-dimensional (3D) culture system.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The CD44<sup>+</sup>CD117<sup>+</sup>cells isolated from human epithelial ovarian cancer SKOV-3 cell line using magnetic-activated cell sorting were found to grow faster than the SKOV-3 cells in the 3D culture and in the nude mice. Anticancer drugs 5FU, docetaxel, cisplatin, and carboplatin were seen to inhibit growth of the CD44<sup>+</sup>CD117<sup>+</sup> cells by 50% in the 2D culture with IC<sub>50</sub> concentration, whereas, in the 3D culture, the four drugs inhibited the cell growth by only 34.4%, 40.8%, 34.8% and 21.9% at 3D one, respectively. Effect of paclitaxel on the CD44<sup>+</sup>CD117<sup>+</sup>cell viability indicated that fewer cells underwent apoptosis in 3D culture than that in 2D one. In addition, anticancer drugs markedly increased the expression of ABCG2 and ABCB1 of CD44<sup>+</sup>CD117<sup>+</sup>cells in 3D culture.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our assay demonstrated that human epithelial ovarian cancer CD44<sup>+</sup>CD117<sup>+</sup>cells possessed the properties of CSCs that exhibited more chemoresistance in the 3D culture than that of in 2D one. The 3D culture provides a realistic model for study of the CSC response to anticancer drugs.</p>
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