Protocol to quantify glioblastoma cell invasion and nuclear deformations in 3D hydrogels
Here, we present a protocol to quantify 3D invasion and nuclear deformation from time-lapse imaging of U251 glioblastoma spheroids embedded in Matrigel. We describe steps for computing a time-resolved radial invasion index through epifluorescence imaging and extracting per-nucleus deformation from 3D+time data using spinning-disk confocal microscopy with an optical flow-based pipeline. This adaptable protocol links nuclear mechanics to invasion. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to van Bodegraven et al. 1
Authors
- Yekta Kesenci
- Aleix Boquet-Pujadas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3300-8004)
- Sandrine Etienne‐Manneville (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6651-3675)
- Sandrine Etienne-Manneville
- Jean-Christophe Olivo-Marin
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Institut Pasteur (FR)
- Université Paris Cité (FR)
- Paul Scherrer Institute (CH)
- University Medical Center Utrecht (NL)
- La Ligue Contre le Cancer (FR)
- Laboratoire Traitement et Communication de l’Information (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- STAR Protocols
- Published
- 2026-06-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xpro.2026.104632
- Primary Topic
- Glioma Diagnosis and Treatment
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Worldwide Cancer Research
- Ligue Contre le Cancer
- Holcim Stiftung zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Fortbildung
- Inserm Transfert