Methods of screening chemotherapeutic agents and treating cancer

A method of treating a cancer in a subject in need thereof, comprising:

• providing a cancer cell sample from the subject, the cancer cell sample including a population of bulk cancer cells and a population of cancer stem-like cells;
• culturing a first portion of the cancer cell sample in a hydrodynamic focusing bioreactor under microgravity conditions and for a period of time sufficient to selectively increase the number of cancer stem-like cells and selectively kill the population of bulk cancer cells;
• contacting the cancer stem-like cells with one or more chemotherapeutic agents;
• detecting whether the one or more chemotherapeutic agents are cytotoxic or not to the cancer stem-like cells;
• identifying the one or more chemotherapeutic agents for treating the cancer if there is an increase in an amount of cytotoxicity;
• and
• administering the one or more selected chemotherapeutic agents to the subject.

A method of identifying a compound useful for treating a cancer, comprising:

• providing a cancer cell sample including a population of bulk cancer cells and a population of cancer stem-like cells;
• culturing the cancer cell sample in a hydrodynamic focusing bioreactor under microgravity conditions and for a period of time sufficient to selectively increase the number of cancer stem-like cells;
• contacting the population of cancer stem-like cells with an effective amount of a test compound;
• detecting whether the test compound is cytotoxic to the cancer stem-like cells or not;
• and
• identifying the test compound as a compound useful for treating cancer if there is an increase in cytotoxicity.