Abstract
Cancer cell motility and its heterogeneity play an important role in metastasis, which is responsible for death of 90% of cancer patients. Here, in combination with a microfluidic technique, single-cell tracking, and systematic motility analysis, we present a rapid and quantitative approach to judge the motility heterogeneity of breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 in a well-defined three-dimensional (3D) microenvironment with controllable conditions. Following this approach, identification of highly mobile active cells in a medium with epithelial growth factor will provide a practical tool for cell invasion and metastasis investigation of multiple cancer cell types, including primary cells. Further, this approach could potentially become a speedy (∼hours) and efficient tool for basic and clinical diagnosis.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 108701 |
Journal | Chinese Physics B |
Volume | 28 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2019 |
Keywords
- cancer metastasis
- invasion potential
- motility heterogeneity
- three-dimensional microenvironment
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Physics and Astronomy