Table 1.
Measuring assays applied in TME studies on TOC.
| TME components | Specific types | Cancers | Measuring assays | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stromal cells | CAFs | Salivary gland adenoid cystic carcinoma | Immunofluorescence, CCD camera | (Liu et al. 2010) |
| CAFs | Lung adenocarcinoma | Inverted microscope; immunofluorescence; ELISA | (Hsu et al. 2011) | |
| CAFs | Colorectal carcinoma | Immunofluorescence; proteome array analysis | (Jeong et al. 2016) | |
| CAFs | Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma | Fluorescent dye; immunofluorescence; live/dead staining; chemiluminescence-based human proteome array analysis | (Lee et al. 2018a) | |
| CAFs | Breast cancer | Phase-contrast image; fluorescent dye; immunofluorescence | (Truong et al. 2016) | |
| CAFs | Breast cancer | Fluorescent dye, apoptosis: Cell-event, fluorescence-based live apoptosis and nuclei stain, flow cytometry | (Nguyen et al. 2018) | |
| CAFs | Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma | Luminesce; Immunofluorescence; TPF; AFM; Multiplex ELISA assay; fluorescent nucleic acid stain, fluorescent dye | (Lai et al. 2020) | |
| Human mammary fibroblasts | Mammary | Immunofluorescence; signal harmonic generation (SHG) | (Sung et al. 2011) | |
| Bone marrow stromal cells | Liver tumor | Immunofluorescence; absorbance | (Menon et al. 2014) | |
| Osteo-differentiated human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (OD hBM-MSCs) | Breast cancer | Immunofluorescence | (Bersini et al. 2014) | |
| OD hBM-MSCs, human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBM-MSCs), | Breast cancer | Immunofluorescence | (Jeon Jessie et al. 2015) | |
| MSCs, osteoblasts | Leukemia | Fluorescent protein; chemiluminescence-based ELISA kit, WB; immunofluorescence; live/dead stain; scRNA-sq | (Ma et al. 2020) | |
| Vasculatures | ECs | Breast cancer | Brightfield images; fluorescent dextran; immunofluorescence; fluorescent beads; intrinsic fluorescence of drugs | (Aung et al. 2016) |
| ECs | Breast cancer | Immunofluorescence; vasculature permeability: FITC-dextran; Cytokine: angiogenesis ELISA | (Nagaraju et al. 2018) | |
| ECs | Kidney cancer | qPCR, beads-based assay (Luminex Assays) | (Miller et al. 2018) | |
| ECs | Glioblastoma | Immunofluorescence | (Kim et al. 2013) | |
| ECs | Leukemia | Immunofluorescence; phase-contrast images; angiogenesis antibody array kit; RT-PCR | (Zheng et al. 2016) | |
| ECs | No real tumor; mimic the presence of proangiogenic factors secreted from the tumor | Immunofluorescence, fluorescent protein | (Kim et al. 2015) | |
| ECs | Breast cancer | Fluorescent dextran; fluorescent dye; live/dead staining | (Chen et al. 2013) | |
| Immune cells | TAMs | Metastatic breast cancer | Fluorescent and phase micrograph; SHG, two photon fluorescence (TPF) | (Huang et al. 2009) |
| TAMs | Fibrosarcoma | Fluorescent dye, fluorescent protein; fluorescent dextran; immunofluorescence; bead-based cytokine array | (Zervantonakis Ioannis et al. 2012) | |
| TAMs | Glioblastoma | Fluorescent dye, immunofluorescence, caspase-3/7; ELISA activation fluorescent dye; flow cytometry; qPCR | (Cui et al. 2020) | |
| TAMs | Lung adenocarcinoma | Immunostaining; ELISA | (Hsu et al. 2012) | |
| Neutrophils | Melanoma | Chemiluminescence-based cytokine array, immunofluorescence; fluorescent dye | (Chen Michelle et al. 2018) | |
| Dendritic cells | Colorectal cancer | Fluorescent dye; flow cytometry; immunofluorescence; qRT-PCR | (Parlato et al. 2017) | |
| Spleen cells | Melanoma | Phase-contrast image; flow cytometry; fluorescence: cell-tracker | (Businaro et al. 2013) | |
| Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TILs) | Colon adenocarcinoma | Fluorescent dye | (Moore et al. 2018) | |
| Tumor fragments including immune cells | Colon adenocarcinoma | Live/dead stain; Immunofluorescence; beads-based cytokine profiling; RNA-seq | (Aref et al. 2018) | |
| Non-cellular components | CXCR4, CXCL12 | Salivary gland adenoid cystic carcinoma | Fluorescent dye, immunofluorescence, phase-contrast imaging, fluorescent dextran | (Zhang et al. 2012) |
| CXCL12, CXCR7, CXCR4 | Breast cancer | Western blot (WB), ELISA, qRT-PCR, fluorescent protein, phase-contrast image, bioluminescence | (Cavnar et al. 2014) | |
| IL-6 | Breast cancer | Live/dead staining; fluorescent protein | (Mi et al. 2016) | |
| Wall shear stress | Breast carcinoma | ELISA, qRT-PCR, immunofluorescence | (Buchanan et al. 2014) | |
| Oxygen | Squamous cell carcinoma, lung carcinoma, gastric signet ring carcinoma, breast cancer | Immunofluorescence; microarray analysis, ELISA, qRT-PCR | (DelNero et al. 2015) | |
| Breathing | Lung cancer | Fluorescent protein; absorbance: cell proliferation; flow cytometry; immunofluorescence; histology; electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) | (Hassell et al. 2017) | |
| pH, O2, glucose or lactate | Brain cancer | Thin-film platinum, iridium oxide electrodes, electrochemical biosensor | (Weltin et al. 2014) | |
| Cut-off pore size, interstitial fluid pressure | Breast cancer | Immunofluorescence | (Kwak et al. 2014) | |
| Physiological flow | Melanoma | Fluorescence; hematoxylin, eosin and silver staining kit | (Albanese et al. 2013) |