Figure 3

Various cancer cell lines and degrees of invasiveness can be accessed by CIA. Wound closure was measured for each cell line [MCF-7 (nonaggressive, noninvasive), SKOV-3 (moderately aggressive and invasive), and MDA-MB-231 (highly aggressive and invasive)] and presented as the mean ± standard deviation at 6, 12, and 24 h using both the CWA (A) and the updated CIA techniques (B). In the absence of Matrigel™, all cell lines exhibited significant levels of closure at each time point, which is contrary to expected levels of invasiveness (according to literature). In contrast, the CIA method detected the various levels of invasiveness of each cell line, in a manner that represents established levels found in vivo. Namely, MCF-7 and SKOV-3 invaded similarly at 6 and 12 h, but were significantly different (P < 0.05) from one another after 24 h. Furthermore, MDA-MB-231 invaded significantly more (P < 0.001) than the other cell lines at all time points.