3D Spheroid Invasion Assay for High-Throughput Screening of Small-Molecule Libraries

Kunal Karve; Stephanie Poon; Panagiotis Prinos; Laurie Ailles

doi:10.1007/978-1-0716-3397-7_15

3D Spheroid Invasion Assay for High-Throughput Screening of Small-Molecule Libraries

Methods Mol Biol. 2023:2706:201-214. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3397-7_15.

Authors

Kunal Karve^{1

2}, Stephanie Poon^{1

3}, Panagiotis Prinos², Laurie Ailles^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
² Structural Genomics Consortium, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
³ Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁴ Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada. laurie.ailles@uhnresearch.ca.
⁵ Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. laurie.ailles@uhnresearch.ca.

PMID: 37558951
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3397-7_15

Abstract

Cancer metastasis is a complex cascade that involves the activation of cancer cell migration and invasion of the extracellular space. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are known inducers of cancer cell invasion. However, current in vitro invasion assays such as the Boyden chamber assay are cumbersome and low throughput. Therefore, there is an urgent need for new ex vivo, surrogate invasion assays that can faithfully recapitulate the cancer cell invasion process in vitro and are amenable to large-scale screening of small-molecule libraries in a high-throughput fashion. Here, we describe a well-established high-throughput three-dimensional (3D) spheroid invasion assay as a powerful tool to identify novel molecular targets that can potentially mediate CAF-dependent cancer cell invasion.

Keywords: Cancer cells; Cancer-associated fibroblasts; High-throughput; Invasion; Small-molecule library; Spheroid; Three-dimensional (3D).

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cell Line, Tumor
Cell Movement
High-Throughput Screening Assays* / methods
Humans
Neoplasm Invasiveness / prevention & control
Small Molecule Libraries* / pharmacology
Spheroids, Cellular

Substances

Small Molecule Libraries