We are glad to share with you confocal microscopy pictures showing the interactions between two proteins (complexes are the red spots) at the surface of breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231) cultivated in 3D in BIOMIMESYS matrix. This was made possible by using proximity ligation assay (PLA). The cell nuclei are in blue (Hoechst staining) and the actin cytoskeleton was stained using phalloidin (in green). These images were taken by Julien Cicero, in the frame of his PhD project supervised by Pr Robert-Alain Toillon.

MDA-MB-231 cells in BIOMIMESYS matrix, after fluorescent labelling for actin (green), and using PLA technique for observing the interactions between two proteins (red dots). The nuclei appear in blue. BIOMIMESYS matrix appears in grey (brightfield).
MDA-MB-231 cells in BIOMIMESYS matrix, after fluorescent labelling for actin (green), and using PLA technique for observing the interactions between two proteins (red dots). The nuclei appear in blue.

PLA allows to detect protein-protein interactions in situ (at distance < 40 nm) by using specific antibodies identifying the two proteins of interest. These antibodies are linked to specific DNA primers, and an hybridization step followed by a PCR amplification with fluorescent probes then permits the visualization of spots of proximity by fluorescence microscopy.

We would like to thank our collaborators from ONCOLille Institute, and in particular from CANTHER (UMR9020 CNRS – 1277 Inserm, Team “Cellular Plasticity and Cancer” lead by X. Le Bourhis) for their work using BIOMIMESYS and these beautiful pictures!

We invite you to contact us about BIOMIMESYS technology and how it will help you in your own research.


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