Modeling Collective Invasion and Single-Cell Mesenchymal Invasion in Three-Dimensional Matrigel–Collagen I Cultures

Understanding the modes and mechanisms of tumor cell invasion is key to developing targeted therapies against metastatic disease. In vitro assays modeling tumor progression have primarily been optimized for studying classical single-cell migration through an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Although experimental and clinical histopathological evidence has revealed that tumor invasion is plastic and that epithelial carcinomas can invade by a range of modes that vary from single, mesenchyme-like cells, all the way to cohesive, collective units, few in vitro assays have been designed to assess these modes specifically. Thus, we have developed a Matrigel-Collagen I overlay assay that is suitable for identifying and quantifying both collective and mesenchymal invasion. This three-dimensional (3D) culture assay utilizes the features of Matrigel and Collagen I to mimic the laminin-rich basement membrane and the stiff, fibrillar Collagen I tumor microenvironment allowing for spheroid invasion to be assessed at the interface between these two matrix components.