Patent ID: 6599694
Filing Date: 2003-07-29
Classification: G01N,G16B

Abstract:
A method of evaluating the effect of interactions between distinct cell types, the method comprising:(a) providing a first cell culture of a first cell type and a second cell culture of a second, different cell type in a microenvironment in which the cells of the first and second cell cultures share a common medium, and wherein the first and second cell types interact in the common medium; (b) imaging the first and second cell types after exposure to an agent or stimulus; (c) quantitatively evaluating one or more images obtained in (b) to generate quantitative phenotypic representations of the cells; and (d) identifying any effects of the agent on the cells in the first and second cell cultures by comparing said quantitative phenotypic representations generated in (c) with phenotypic representations of one or more reference cells, which effects are mediated by interactions between the first and second cell cultures, wherein the first cell type is a cancerous epithelial cell type and the second cell type is a mesenchymal cell type, and wherein the first and second cell types are from the same tissue or organ.