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Treitschke S, Weidele K, Varadarajan AR, Feliciello G, Warfsmann J, Vorbeck S, Polzer B, Botteron C, Hoffmann M, Dechand V, Mederer T, Weber F, Werner-Klein M, Robold T, Hofmann HS, Werno C, Klein CA. Ex vivo expansion of lung cancer-derived disseminated cancer cells from lymph nodes identifies cells associated with metastatic progression. Int J Cancer 2023; 153:1854-1867. [PMID: 37555668 DOI: 10.1002/ijc.34658] [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] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2022] [Revised: 05/24/2023] [Accepted: 06/19/2023] [Indexed: 08/10/2023]
Abstract
The cellular basis of the apparent aggressiveness in lung cancer is poorly understood but likely associated with functional or molecular features of disseminated cancer cells (DCCs). DCCs from epithelial cancers are mostly detected by antibodies directed against histogenetic markers such as cytokeratin or EpCAM. It has been argued that marker-negative metastatic founder cells might escape detection. We therefore used ex vivo sphere formation for functional detection of candidate metastasis founders. We generated cell suspensions from 199 LN samples of 131 lung cancer patients and placed them into non-adherent cell culture. Sphere formation was associated with detection of DCCs using EpCAM immunocytology and with significantly poorer prognosis. The prognostic impact of sphere formation was strongly associated with high numbers of EpCAM-positive DCCs and aberrant genotypes of expanded spheres. We also noted sphere formation in patients with no evidence of lymphatic spread, however such spheres showed infrequent expression of signature genes associated with spheres from EpCAM-positive samples and displayed neither typical lung cancer mutations (KRAS, TP53, ERBB1) nor copy number variations, but might be linked to disease progression >5 years post curative surgery. We conclude that EpCAM identifies relevant disease-driving DCCs, that such cells can be expanded for model generation and that further research is needed to clarify the functional and prognostic role of rare EpCAM-negative sphere forming cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steffi Treitschke
- Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Division of Personalized Tumor Therapy, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Kathrin Weidele
- Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Division of Personalized Tumor Therapy, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Adithi Ravikumar Varadarajan
- Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Division of Personalized Tumor Therapy, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Giancarlo Feliciello
- Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Division of Personalized Tumor Therapy, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Jens Warfsmann
- Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Division of Personalized Tumor Therapy, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Sybille Vorbeck
- Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Division of Personalized Tumor Therapy, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Bernhard Polzer
- Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Division of Personalized Tumor Therapy, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Catherine Botteron
- Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Division of Personalized Tumor Therapy, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Martin Hoffmann
- Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Division of Personalized Tumor Therapy, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Vadim Dechand
- Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Division of Personalized Tumor Therapy, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Tobias Mederer
- Experimental Medicine and Therapy Research, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Florian Weber
- Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Division of Personalized Tumor Therapy, Regensburg, Germany
- Institute for Pathology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Melanie Werner-Klein
- Experimental Medicine and Therapy Research, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Tobias Robold
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Hans-Stefan Hofmann
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Christian Werno
- Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Division of Personalized Tumor Therapy, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Christoph A Klein
- Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Division of Personalized Tumor Therapy, Regensburg, Germany
- Experimental Medicine and Therapy Research, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
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