Alternative Strategy to Analyze In Vitro Cell Invasion of 3D Cultures

Our research group primarily focuses on the crosstalk between cancer and the immune cells. We aim to investigate the impact of various biological mechanisms on the evolution of head and neck cancer through the modulation of tumor immunity. The purpose of this protocol is to assess invasion within extracellular matrix and a spatial colocalization of different cell types in a multi-layered context.

The advantage of this protocol is the use of heterospheroids incorporating two relevant non-neoplastic cell types alongside cancer cells to analyze invasion with extracellular matrix towards both a microporous membrane and chemotaxis stimuli. To begin add magnetic nanoparticles to the cell suspension and mix 10 times. Centrifuge the cells at 400G for five minutes at room temperature, and mix 10 times to resuspend the cells.