For decades, cancer biologists have relied on what is called cancer cell lines to their experiences. But these cells in culture often bear little resemblance to the tumor they came. In fact, a piece of tumor tissue fell into a Petri dish does not just start growing. Instead, researchers withdraw a few tumor cells that occur in replicating cells often do not require the surrounding normal cells which feed tumors inside the body. And the genetic makeup of the cell lines may change over the years, they multiply in the laboratory. No wonder, then, that an experimental drug that kills a line of colon cancer cells will not necessarily help a patient with colon cancer.
Now, several US and European funding agencies want to change that. Today they are launching the models of human cancer Initiative (HCMI), which aims to give the tumor cells of the research community that behave more like real human tumors. The project comprises four groups: the National Institute of US cancer (NCI) in Bethesda, Maryland; Cancer Research UK in London; the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, U.K.. and nonprofit Hubrecht organoid Technology in Utrecht, the Netherlands, which was founded by Hans Clevers, a cancer researcher at the Hubrecht Institute.
The project will use new perspectives on how to make the mixture of cells from a human tumor grow outside the body. For example, Clevers added growth factors and matrix gellike to obtain isolated cells from a particular organ to develop in a similar miniorgan or organoid. Others use a special bed of mouse cells to coax growing tumor cells. When samples of these cells were treated with known anti-cancer drugs, they responded in a manner that was remarkably similar to that of mice with tumors derived from these cells.
HCMI will increase the production of these tissues the basic models of human cancer and share them with the community. NCI will fund the development of 0 models; the Sanger Institute and Cancer Research UK will create 0; and Hubrecht Institute will produce 0 models as part of a pilot project 2 to 3 years. (The total level of funding has not yet been determined.) Although the focus will be mainly on common cancers, such as colon and pancreas, NCI will try to include rare cancers and childhood also said Louis Staudt, director of NCI's Center for cancer Genomics.
Each model will come with a complete genetic analysis and clinical information on the cancer patient, he came, for example, if a specific drug helped them. The project dovetail with NCI effort to complete its workhorse 60 human cancer cell lines with cells derived from tissue samples of patients implanted in mice, said Staudt.
The first samples of the repository might be available to researchers this year. In the long term, Staudt said he would like to see the project expand to 10,000 models. "I am extremely excited about it. I think this is great opportunity to boost cancer research. It is an opportunity to raise all boats. "
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