A novel density control device for the study of cancer cell autocrine effect

In this paper, we propose a novel cell self-loading and patterning device for quantitatively study density effect on cell behaviors. Using this device, it is easy to gather different cell density colonies in different sizes of microchambers using one homogeneous cell solution. As a demonstration, we show that the cell number of self-patterning MCF-7 colony is in proportion to the size of liquid-absorbing cavity in the device, from single cell to tens of cells. This device can easily be used to compare the cancer cells' proliferation in different micro-environments, such as the same number of cells in micro-cavities with different sizes, or different numbers of cells in micro-cavities with the same size, or with different FBS concentrations. Our studies imply a plausible positive correlation between the local concentration of autocrine factors and tumor cell proliferation, which is also quantitative analyzed by a simple model.