Viably Capturing Invasive and Non-Invasive Cells from a Transwell Chamber

The capacity of cancer cells to migrate and invade plays a profound role in determining a patient’s prognosis. Therefore, in vitro assays to investigate and delineate these functions are of fundamental importance in cancer research. We describe the commonly used Transwell Assay (TWA), also known as the Boyden Chamber Assay, for both migration and invasion. We also discuss our experience utilizing TWA to capture and expand subpopulations of viable invasive and noninvasive breast cancer cells. These distinct groups of cells were then studied further to show how nucleotide excision repair (NER) plays a role in tumor stage and recurrence.