Transparent, Nanoporous, and Transferable Membrane-Based Cell-Cell Paracrine Signaling Assay

Abstract

A transparent, nanoporous, and transferable membrane-based cell coculture platform is devised and developed to be used for the accurate and versatile control and analysis of paracrine communications between cocultured cells, as well as easy isolation of each cell line for further manipulation and analysis. On the basis of the high degree of freedom in stacking and destacking of the membranes and the controllable nanopores that efficiently allow exchanges of paracrine factors without physical contact between the different cell lines, the paracrine signaling between human breast metastatic cancer cells and three different types of stromal cell types are controlled and studied.