Characterization of the Effects of Migrastatic Inhibitors on 3D Tumor Spheroid Invasion by High-resolution Confocal Microscopy

Drug discovery and development in cancer research is increasingly being based on drug screens in a 3D format. Novel inhibitors targeting the migratory and invasive potential of cancer cells, and consequently the metastatic spread of disease, are being discovered and considered as complementary treatments in highly invasive cancers such as gliomas. Thus, generating data enabling the detailed analyses of cells in a 3D environment following the addition of a drug is required. The methodology described here, combining spheroid invasion assays with high-resolution image capture and data analysis by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), enabled detailed characterization of the effects of the potential anti-migratory inhibitor MI-192 on glioma cells. Spheroids were generated from cell lines for invasion assays in low adherent 96-well plates and then prepared for CLSM analysis. The described workflow was preferred over other commonly used spheroid-generating techniques due to both ease and reproducibility. This, combined with the enhanced image resolution attained by confocal microscopy compared to conventional wide-field approaches, allowed the identification and analysis of distinct morphological changes in migratory cells in a 3D environment following treatment with the migrastatic drug MI-192.