Imaging intercellular interaction and extracellular vesicle exchange in a co-culture model of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and stromal cells by lattice light-sheet fluorescence microscopy

Methods Enzymol. 2020:645:79-107. doi: 10.1016/bs.mie.2020.06.015. Epub 2020 Aug 27.

Abstract

Recent advances in live cell imaging allow investigating processes that take place over the entire cell volume with unprecedented time and spatial resolution. Here we describe a protocol to study intercellular communication, including extracellular vesicle exchange, between cancer cells and their microenvironment, using lattice light sheet fluorescence microscopy. While the described protocol is intended to study the interactions between chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells and bone marrow stromal cells, many components of it can be applied to study other cancers of hematopoietic or solid tumor origin, as well as to characterize other modalities of intercellular communication.

Keywords: Bioreactor flask; Chronic lymphocytic leukemia; Co-culture; Exosomes; Extracellular vesicles; Fluorescence microscopy; Imaging; LLSM; Lattice light sheet microscope; Live cell microscopy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Coculture Techniques
  • Extracellular Vesicles*
  • Humans
  • Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell*
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Stromal Cells
  • Tumor Microenvironment