In Vitro Model of Tumor Cell Extravasation

Jessie S. Jeon, Ioannis K. Zervantonakis, Seok Chung, Roger D. Kamm, Joseph L. Charest

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    208 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Tumor cells that disseminate from the primary tumor and survive the vascular system can eventually extravasate across the endothelium to metastasize at a secondary site. In this study, we developed a microfluidic system to mimic tumor cell extravasation where cancer cells can transmigrate across an endothelial monolayer into a hydrogel that models the extracellular space. The experimental protocol is optimized to ensure the formation of an intact endothelium prior to the introduction of tumor cells and also to observe tumor cell extravasation by having a suitable tumor seeding density. Extravasation is observed for 38.8% of the tumor cells in contact with the endothelium within 1 day after their introduction. Permeability of the EC monolayer as measured by the diffusion of fluorescently-labeled dextran across the monolayer increased 3.8 fold 24 hours after introducing tumor cells, suggesting that the presence of tumor cells increases endothelial permeability. The percent of tumor cells extravasated remained nearly constant from1 to 3 days after tumor seeding, indicating extravasation in our system generally occurs within the first 24 hours of tumor cell contact with the endothelium.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article numbere56910
    JournalPloS one
    Volume8
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2013 Feb 20

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'In Vitro Model of Tumor Cell Extravasation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this