Name: impedance-based real-time measurement of cancer cell migration and invasion
Uploaded: 2020-04-02T15:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Impedance-based Real-time Measurement of Cancer Cell Migration and Invasion at JoVE.com

We thank Olivia Funk for her technical assistance with the real-time cell analysis system data. We also thank the Medical Writing Center at Children&#8217;s Mercy Kansas City for editing this manuscript. This work was supported by Tom Keaveny Endowed Fund for Pediatric Cancer Research (to TP) and by Children&#8217;s Mercy Hospital Midwest Cancer Alliance Partner Advisory Board funding (to TP).

NOTE: All cell culture materials need to be sterile and the entire experiment must be performed in a biosafety cabinet under sterile conditions.
1. Culture and Electroporation of the U-118MG Glioblastoma Cell Line
<ol>
	<li>Culture the U-118MG cell line in 5% fetal bovine serum (FBS) containing Dulbecco&#8217;s Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) (culture medium) and Maintain at 37 &#176;C in a humid atmosphere containing 5% CO2 incubator (culture conditions).</li>
	<li>...

<ol>
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The real-time measurement of cell migration and invasion using the real-time cell analysis system is a simple, quick, and continuous monitoring process with multiple, significant advantages over the traditional methods that provide data at a single time point. As with the traditional methods, experimental conditions must be optimized for each cell line for the real-time cell analysis system, because each cell line may be different in terms of its adhesion to the substrate, growth, cell-to-cell contacts, and migratory and...

Cancer is a lethal disease due to its ability to metastasize to different organs. Determining cancer genotypes and phenotypes is critical to understanding and designing effective therapeutic strategies. Decades of cancer research have led to the development and adaptation of different methods to determine cancer genotypes and phenotypes. One of the latest technical developments is real-time measurement of cell migration and invasion based on cell impedance. Cell adhesion to substrates and cell-cell contacts play an important role in cell-to-cell communication and regulation, development, and maintenance of tissues. Abnormalities in cell adhesion lead to the loss of cell-cell contact, degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM), and gain of migratory and invading capabilities by cells, all of which contribute to metastasis of cancer cells to different organs1,2. Various methods are available to determine cell migration (wound healing and Boyden chamber assays) and invasion (Matrigel-Boyden chamber assay)3,4,5. These conventional methods are semiquantitative because cells need to be labeled with a fluorescent dye or other dyes either before or after the experiment to measure cell phenotypes. In addition, mechanical disruptions are needed in some cases for creating a wound for measuring the migration of cells to the wound site. Moreover, these existing methods are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and measure the results at only one time point. In addition, these methods are prone to making inaccurate measurements due to inconsistent handling during the experimental procedure6.
Unlike conventional methods, the real-time cell analysis system measures cell impedance in real-time without requiring pre- or poststaining and mechanical damage of cells. More importantly, the duration of an experiment can be extended so that biological effects can be determined in a time-dependent manner. Executing the experiment is time-efficient and not labor-intensive. Analyzing data is relatively simple and accurate. Compared to other methods, this method is one of the best real-time measurements to measure cell migration and invasion6,7,8,9.
Giaever and Keese were the first to describe the impedance-based measurement of a cell population on the surface of electrodes10. The real-time cell analysis system works on the same principle. The area of each microplate well is approximately 80% covered with an array of gold microelectrodes. When the electrode surface area is occupied by cells due to adherence or spreading of the cells, the electrical impedance changes. This impedance is displayed as the cell index, which is directly proportional to the cells covering the electrode surface area after they penetrate the microporous membrane (the median pore size of this membrane is 8 &#956;m)11.
Crk and CrkL are adaptor proteins containing SH2 and SH3 domains and play important roles in various cellular functions, such as cytoskeleton regulation, cell transformation, proliferation, adhesion, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, migration, invasion, and metastasis by mediating protein-protein interactions in many signaling pathways1,12,13,14,15,16,17,18. Therefore, it is important to determine the Crk/CrkL-dependent migratory and invasive capabilities of cancer cells. Real-time cell analysis was performed to determine the migratory and invasive abilities of glioblastoma cells upon gene knockdown of Crk and CrkL.
This method paper describes detailed measurements of Crk- and CrkL-mediated migration and invasion of human glioblastoma cells.&#160;

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width:1140px;" width="1140">
	<colgroup>
		<col />
		<col />
		<col />
		<col />
	</colgroup>
	<tbody>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;width:323px;">Biosafety cabinet</td>
			<td style="width:339px;">ThermoFisher Scientific</td>
			<td style="width:235px;">1300 Series Class II, Type A2</td>
			<td style="width:244px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">CIM plates</td>
			<td>Cell Analysis Division of Agilent Technologies, Inc</td>
			<td>5665825001</td>
			<td>Cell invasion and migration plates</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Crk siRNA</td>
			<td>Dharmacon</td>
			<td>J-010503-10</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">CrkL siRNA</td>
			<td>Ambion</td>
			<td>ID: 3522 and ID: 3524</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Dulbecco&#8217;s modified eagle&#8217;s medium (DMEM)</td>
			<td>ATCC</td>
			<td>302002</td>
			<td>Culture medium used for cell culture</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Dulbecco&#39;s phosphate-buffered saline (DPBS)</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>21-031-CV</td>
			<td>DPBS used to wash the cells</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Fetal bovine serum (FBS)</td>
			<td>Hyclone</td>
			<td>SH30910.03</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Heracell VIOS 160i CO2 incubator</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher Scientific</td>
			<td>51030285</td>
			<td>Co2 incubator</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Matrigel</td>
			<td>BD Bioscience</td>
			<td>354234</td>
			<td>Extracellular matrix gel</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Neon electroporation system</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher Scientific</td>
			<td>MPK5000</td>
			<td>Electroporation system</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Neon transfection system 10 &#181;L kit</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher Scientific</td>
			<td>MPK1025</td>
			<td>Electroporation kit</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Non-targeting siRNA</td>
			<td>Dharmacon</td>
			<td>D-001810-01</td>
			<td>siRNA for non targated control</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Odyssey CLx (Imaging system)</td>
			<td>LI-COR Biosciences</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Western blot imaging system</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">RTCA software</td>
			<td>Cell Analysis Division of Agilent Technologies, Inc</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Instrument used for experiment</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Scepter</td>
			<td>Millipore</td>
			<td>C85360</td>
			<td>Handheld automated cell counter</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Trypsin-EDTA</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>25300-054</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">U-118MG</td>
			<td>ATCC</td>
			<td>ATCC HTB15</td>
			<td>Cell lines used for experiments</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="41">
			<td height="41" style="height:41px;">xCELLigence RTCA DP</td>
			<td>Cell Analysis Division of Agilent Technologies, Inc</td>
			<td>380601050</td>
			<td>Instrument used for experiment</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

impedance-based real-time measurement of cancer cell migration and invasion

Cancer arises due to uncontrolled proliferation of cells initiated by genetic instability, mutations, and environmental and other stress factors. These acquired abnormalities in complex, multilayered molecular signaling networks induce aberrant cell proliferation and survival, extracellular matrix degradation, and metastasis to distant organs. Approximately 90% of cancer-related deaths are estimated to be caused by the direct or indirect effects of metastatic dissemination. Therefore, it is important to establish a highly reliable, comprehensive system to characterize cancer cell behaviors upon genetic and environmental manipulations. Such a system can give a clear understanding of the molecular regulation of cancer metastasis and the opportunity for successful development of stratified, precise therapeutic strategies. Hence, accurate determination of cancer cell behaviors such as migration and invasion with gain or loss of function of gene(s) allows assessment of the aggressive nature of cancer cells. The real-time measurement system based on cell impedance enables researchers to continually acquire data during a whole experiment and instantly compare and quantify the results under various experimental conditions. Unlike conventional methods, this method does not require fixation, staining, and sample processing to analyze cells that migrate or invade. This method paper emphasizes detailed procedures for real-time determination of migration and invasion of glioblastoma cancer cells.

It has been suggested that Crk and CrkL are important for cell migration and invasion in different cancer cell lines13,17. Although Crk and CrkL proteins are structurally and functionally similar to each other and play essential overlapping functions16,19,20,21, many gene knockdown studies for Crk and CrkL have not clearly addressed whe...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Impedance-based Real-time Measurement of Cancer Cell Migration and Invasion at JoVE.com

Impedance-based Real-time Measurement of Cancer Cell Migration and Invasion

Cancer is a lethal disease due to its ability to metastasize to different organs. Determining the ability of cancer cells to migrate and invade under various treatment conditions is crucial to assessing therapeutic strategies. This protocol presents a method to assess the real-time metastatic abilities of a glioblastoma cancer cell line.&#160;

Cancer arises due to uncontrolled proliferation of cells initiated by genetic instability, mutations, and environmental and other stress factors. These ...

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