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Staffeldt L, Mattert G, Riecken K, Rövenstrunk G, Volkmar A, Heumann A, Moustafa M, Jücker M, Fehse B, Schumacher U, Lüth S, Kah J. Generating Patient-Derived HCC Cell Lines Suitable for Predictive In Vitro and In Vivo Drug Screening by Orthotopic Transplantation. Cells 2023; 13:82. [PMID: 38201286 PMCID: PMC10778205 DOI: 10.3390/cells13010082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2023] [Revised: 12/14/2023] [Accepted: 12/25/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) results in high mortality due to ineffective systemic therapy. Human immortalized cell lines are commonly used to study anti-tumor effects in the context of new anti-tumor therapies and tumor biology. As immortalized cell lines have limited biological relevance and heterogeneity compared to primary cells, patient-derived tumor tissues, and corresponding immune cells are the gold standards for studying the complexity of individual tumor entities. However, culturing primary HCC cells has a low success rate. Here, we aimed to establish a reproducible approach to preserve the patient-derived liver cancer cells for in vitro and in vivo studies. The underlying study aimed to establish an in vitro pre-screening platform to test treatment options' effectivity and dosage, e.g., for new substances, autologous modified immune cells, or combined therapies in HCC. We initially employed 15 surgical resection specimens from patients with different HCC entities for isolation and preservation. The isolated liver cancer cells from four HCC-diagnosed patients were used for orthotopic transplantation into the healthy liver of immunodeficient mice, allowing them to grow for six months before human liver cancer cells were isolated and cultured. As a result, we generated and characterized four new primary-like liver cancer cell lines. Compared to immortalized HCC cell lines, freshly generated liver cancer cells displayed individual morphologies and heterogeneous protein-level characteristics. We assessed their ability to proliferate, migrate, form spheroids, and react to common medications compared to immortalized HCC cell lines. All four liver cancer cell lines exhibit strong migration and colony-forming characteristics in vitro, comparable to extensively investigated immortalized HCC cell lines. Moreover, the four etiological different liver cancer cell lines displayed differences in the response to 5-FU, Sorafenib, Axitinib, and interferon-alpha treatment, ranking from non-responders to responders depending on the applicated medication. In sum, we generated individual patient-derived liver cancer cell lines suitable for predictive in vitro drug screenings and for xenograft transplantations to realize the in vivo investigation of drug candidates. We overcame the low cultivation success rate of liver cancer cells derived from patients and analyzed their potential to serve a pre-clinical model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa Staffeldt
- Institute of Anatomy and Experimental Morphology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany (U.S.)
| | - Gregor Mattert
- Brandenburg Medical School, Center for Translational Medicine, 14770 Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany; (G.M.); (G.R.)
| | - Kristoffer Riecken
- Research Department Cell and Gene Therapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Götz Rövenstrunk
- Brandenburg Medical School, Center for Translational Medicine, 14770 Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany; (G.M.); (G.R.)
| | - Anika Volkmar
- Brandenburg Medical School, Center for Translational Medicine, 14770 Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany; (G.M.); (G.R.)
| | - Asmus Heumann
- Department of General, Visceral and Thoracic Surgery, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Mohamed Moustafa
- Department of Visceral Transplantation, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Manfred Jücker
- Center for Experimental Medicine, Institute of Biochemistry and Signal Transduction, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany;
| | - Boris Fehse
- Research Department Cell and Gene Therapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
- German Center for Infection Research, Hamburg-Lübeck-Borstel Partner Site, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Udo Schumacher
- Institute of Anatomy and Experimental Morphology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany (U.S.)
- Medical School Berlin, Mecklenburgische Straße 57, 14197 Berlin, Germany
| | - Stefan Lüth
- Brandenburg Medical School, Center for Translational Medicine, 14770 Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany; (G.M.); (G.R.)
- Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital Brandenburg, 14770 Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany
| | - Janine Kah
- Institute of Anatomy and Experimental Morphology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany (U.S.)
- Brandenburg Medical School, Center for Translational Medicine, 14770 Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany; (G.M.); (G.R.)
- Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital Brandenburg, 14770 Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany
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