Objective: To find a direct method for testing the invasive ability of bladder cancer.
Method: The invasive ability of 49 specimens of primarily cultured bladder cancer, transfected BIU-87 cells with pcDNA3-E1AF and untransfected BIU-87 cells was evaluated by Matrigel invasion assay.
Results: Sixteen of the 49 specimens were found to penetrate the matrigel barrier, and the result of the Matrigel invasion was related to the grade of the tumor cells. The number of positive cells of transfected BIU-87 was remarkably larger than that of untransfected BIU-87.
Conclusions: Matrigel invasion assay is a simple, direct and dependable method, and could be used clinically to test the invasive ability of bladder cancer.