Migration Assays

Recruitment and chemotaxis of immune cells towards the tumor microenvironment (TME) is an important metric of cell-function. TME differs from the environment around normal healthy tissue in that it is often hypoxic, acidic, and with inadequate blood flow, thus leading to the buildup of toxic cell byproducts along with the release of anti-inflammatory chemokines. These conditions result in the tolerization of immune cells as well as the polarization of T-cells and macrophages to immune suppressing T-regs and M2 macrophages, respectively. The ability of pro-inflammatory immune cells to overcome these suppressive effects and migrate towards and infiltrate tumors is of critical importance to effective immunotherapy.