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Method Article

ATP-Based Luciferase Viability Assay: A Homogenous Method to Evaluate the Growth-Inhibitory Potential of Test Agents on Tumor Organoids

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July 8th, 2025

In This Article

Abstract

Source: Higa, A. et al. High-Throughput In Vitro Assay using Patient-Derived Tumor Organoids. J. Vis. Exp. (2021)

In this video, we demonstrate a rapid, single-addition assay to assess cell viability in patient-derived organoids upon treatment with a test agent using intracellular ATP levels as a marker for cellular metabolic activity. The intracellular ATP levels are measured using the luciferase/luciferin reaction, where the emitted light intensity indicates the cellular viability and, in turn, the test agent's growth-inhibitory potency.

Protocol

1. Growth Inhibition High-Throughput Screening (HTS)

NOTE: The growth inhibitory activity of anticancer agents against patient-derived tumor organoids (PDOs) is evaluated by measuring the intracellular ATP content, as shown in Figure 1. This step is performed using a commercially available cell viability assay kit (see Table of Materials).

  1. On day 0, culture the PDOs (e.g., RLUN007) in flasks until adequate numbers of cell clusters are available for the assay. One day before seeding, transfer the PDO suspension from a 75 cm2 flask to a 15 mL tube and centrifuge at 200 ....

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Results

PDO culture process diagram; cell seeding, treatment, ATP viability assay in microplates.
Figure 1: Summary of the protocol used to create a high-throughput assay system using 384-well microplates.

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Disclosures

No conflicts of interest declared.

Materials

List of materials used in this article
NameCompanyCatalog NumberComments
384-well Ultra-Low Attachment Spheroid MicroplateCorning4516Plates for HTS
Cancer Cell Expansion Media plusFujifilm Wako Pure Chemical032-25745Medium for F-PDO
CellPet FTJTEC-Cell fragmentation and dispersion equipment
CellTiter-Glo 3D Cell Viability AssayPromegaG9683Cell viability luminescent assay, intracellular ATP measuring reagent
Echo 555Labcyte-Liquid handler
EnSpirePerkinElmer-Plate reader
Morphit software, version 6.0The Edge Software ConsultancyBiological data analysis software
Multidrop CombiThermoFisher Scientific5840300Cell suspension dispenser
RLUN007Fujifilm Wako Pure Chemical or Summit Pharmaceuticals InternationalLung tumor derived F-PDO
Ultra-Low Attachment 75 cm² FlaskCorning3814Culture flask for PDO

Tags

ATP Based Luciferase AssayTumor Organoid ViabilityIntracellular ATP MeasurementLuciferase Luciferin ReactionBioluminescence DetectionTest Agent ScreeningHydrogel Coated MicroplateCell Lysis ExtractionATPase Inhibitor StabilizationLuminometer Light Measurement