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A high-throughput microfabricated platform for rapid quantification of metastatic potential
Smiti Bhattacharya1,2, Abora Ettela3, Jonathan Haydak1
1Barbara T. Murphy Division of Nephrology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
Science Advances
|August 16, 2024
Summary
This study introduces a novel micropatterned chip to accurately measure the invasive potential of cancer cells, mimicking native conditions for better malignancy assessment.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Cell Biology
- Biomaterials Engineering
Background:
- Cancer cell invasiveness is crucial for metastasis but difficult to measure accurately.
- Conventional assays are limited by culture conditions and indirect metrics.
- Understanding native invasive potential is key to developing effective cancer therapies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel assay for quantifying the native invasive potential of tumor cells.
- To create a system that mimics native environmental conditions for cell invasion studies.
- To improve the understanding of malignancy signatures and identify therapeutic targets.
Main Methods:
- Development of a micropatterned chip with 3D microchannels.
- Measurement of basal native invasiveness without chemoattractants or microfluidics.
- Utilized six cancer cell lines for system validation.
Main Results:
- The novel chip accurately quantifies basal native invasiveness.
- The system demonstrated higher sensitivity compared to motility assays, nuclear deformability, and morphometrics.
- No significant changes in cell death or proliferation were observed on the chips.
Conclusions:
- The developed platform offers a sensitive and accurate method for measuring cancer cell invasiveness.
- This technology can distinguish between cell motility and invasiveness, aiding molecular mechanism studies.
- The platform shows potential for screening targeted therapeutics for cancer metastasis.
