Assessment of Invadopodium Formation and Gelatin Degradation in Vitro.

Some cancer cells form highly regulated structures, termed invadopodia, which mediate local, enzymatic degradation of extracellular matrix and facilitate cancer cell invasion and migration during metastatic progression. Understanding invadopodium formation and function in cancer cells is therefore an important strategy to find novel clinical approaches to interfere with metastasis. Invadopodia are F-actin-rich protrusions that form on the advancing edge of cells, supported by complex molecular interactions at the cell membrane.