It is said that Cancer Cells have no contact inhibition and they can grow into multi layers. BUT，when we culture the HeLa cell, which is a well-known cancer cell line, in the plate, the HeLa cells dose not form multiple layers but keep the monolayer state even the density is much high if I chang the medium timely.
Why?
Does the contact inhibition theory need to be modified?
Hello David Genisys
No, I don’t think contact inhibition theory would require any modification.
Loss of contact inhibition is the hallmark of cancer cell lines. Untransformed (normal) cells display contact inhibition when grown on a solid substrate, such as a culture dish or flask where they form a monolayer. Cancer cell lines, however, continually grow. Interestingly, cancer cells and, more generally, cancer cell lines display no contact inhibition. When confluence is reached, the cells continue to divide and pile up on top of each other.
The answer to your question lies in the difference of behavior of cells in 3D and 2D cultures. 3D-cultured cells is more reflective of in vivo cellular responses. The 3D culture environment differ morphologically and physiologically from cells in the 2D culture environment. The additional dimensionality of 3D cultures that is the crucial feature leading to the differences in cellular responses because not only does it influence the spatial organization of the cell surface receptors engaged in interactions with surrounding cells, but it also induces physical constraints to cells. These spatial and physical aspects in 3D cultures affect the signal transduction from the outside to the inside of cells, and ultimately influence gene expression and cellular behavior.
While the 2D-cultured cells are stretched out in an unnatural state on a flat substrate, cells cultured in 3D on a biological or synthetic scaffold material maintain a normal morphology. Also, cells growing in 2D monolayer are under stress and therefore some genes and proteins being expressed are altered as a result of this unnatural state. The difference in cell stages between 2D and 3D cultures also should be taken into account. While cells in 2D culture are mostly proliferating cells, cells in 3D cultures usually are a mixture of cells at different stages. For instance, spheroids in 3D cultures are likely to be heterogeneous, having proliferating cells on the outer region and quiescent cells in the inner region due to lack of nutrients and gas exchange.
For more information you may refer to the article attached below. These articles will be helpful.
Article Three-Dimensional Cell Culture Systems and Their Application...
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep19103
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