IN VITRO ASSAY OF THE INITIATION OF BREAST CANCER METASTASIS

乳腺癌非常常见，但治疗这种疾病的选择有限。转移，即乳腺肿瘤细胞扩散到肺、脑和其他组织的过程，是乳腺癌最危险的方面，但几乎没有治疗方法可以抑制这一过程。最近的研究强烈表明巨噬细胞激活了乳腺肿瘤细胞的迁移和转移的早期阶段。因此，Vala Sciences提出了一种测试系统来测试化合物对乳腺肿瘤细胞的作用：巨噬细胞之间的相互作用与肿瘤转移的启动有关。该系统(肿瘤细胞巨噬细胞分析或TCMA)将是高通量(96孔格式或更大)，并利用高含量的方法(自动定量数字显微镜和细胞图像分析)。对于PhaseI阶段，Vala Sciences将开发用于检测的肿瘤细胞(生长在3-D球体中)和巨噬细胞(分化为M2表型)的方法，此外，还将开发进行检测的基本方法，包括建立良好的配置、时间进程、低氧条件、趋化剂的使用以及图像采集和分析的基本方法。

Breast cancer is very common but therapeutic options to treat this disease are limited. Metastasis, the process via which breast tumor cells disseminate to the lung, brain and other tissues, is the most dangerous aspect of breast cancer yet there are few therapeutics that inhibit this process. Recent studies strongly suggest macrophages activate migration of breast tumor cells and the early stages of metastasis. Acordingly, Vala Sciences proposes an assay system to test compounds on breast tumor cell:macrophage interactions relevant to initiation of metastasis. The system (Tumor Cell Macrophage Assay or TCMA) will be high throughput (96-well format or greater) and utilize high content methods (automated quantitative digital microscopy and cell image analysis). For PhaseI, Vala Sciences will develop methods for preparing the tumor cells (grown in 3-D spheroids) and macrophages (differentiated to the M2 phenotype) for use in the assay, and, additionally, develop the basic methods for conducting the assay, including establishing the well configuration, time-course, hypoxic conditions, use of chemotaxic agents, and the basic methods for image acquisition and analysis.