A collaborative study led by researchers from Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute has revealed the promising possibilities of using an agarose spot migration assay to examine the ability of extracellular vesicles to attract other cells in a controlled environment. The study has been recently published in the journal BMC Biology .
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanoparticles released by cells which are present in various biological processes, including cellular communication. Recent research indicates that cancer-related EVs play an important role in forming a pre-metastatic niche (PMN) - a preparatory area that allows spreading tumour cells to establish and grow - by recruiting cells from the original tumour.
It is vital to understand and measure how these cancer-EVs can prompt cell migration and recruitment, both for developing cell-free therapeutic approaches and for improving our knowledge of cancer metastasis. In this context, classical in vitro (lab-based) migration assays do not fully capture the true ability of EVs to guide cells chemically to a new location .
The study led by researchers from IGTP's research groups Innovation in Vesicles and Cells for Application in Therapy (IVECAT) , Badalona Applied Research Group in Oncology (B·ARGO) and Resistance, Chemotherapy and Predictive Biomarkers (RCPB) emphasises how EVs can influence cancer metastasis. The research team adapted a laboratory method known as the agarose spot migration assay to EV requirements , which measures how well these tiny particles can attract other cells in a controlled environment.
Their analysis, including still images and time-lapse videos among others, revealed that EVs differ in their ability to recruit endothelial cells. More importantly, they were able to identify a greater recruitment capability in EVs from highly metastatic PC3 cancer cells compared to those from less metastatic LNCaP cells.
The first author of the study, Marta Clos-Sansalvador , a predoctoral student from IGTP's group IVECAT, explains that "the agarose spot migration assay may offer a diversity of measurements and migration settings not provided by classical migration assays, like scratch assays, and reveal its potential use in the EV and cancer metastasis fields" . Clos-Sansalvador also points out the assay's practicality: "EV-adapted agarose spot migration assay is a simple, low-cost, and versatile technique that can be easily adapted to most laboratories" .
BMC Biology
Experimental study
Cells
Agarose spot migration assay to measure the chemoattractant potential of extracellular vesicles: applications in regenerative medicine and cancer metastasis
26-Oct-2023
The authors declare no competing interests.