Cell lines derived from cancer cells are often used in research, including as models for understanding cancer and identifying potential new therapies. These cell lines (such as HeLa cells) are “immortalized” and therefore continue to grow. However, there are doubts about the relevance of the research conducted on these cell lines, especially when faced with cell line contamination and misidentification.
Initially, there was limited success in translating the discovery that the use of cell lines benefited patients. In the late 1980s, this led to the development of NCI-60 panels. It consists of cell lines derived from human cancers, which are designed to account for differences in treatment response in certain cancer types. The NCI-60 research team consists of 60 cancer cell lines derived from 9 cancers and was officially launched in 1990. A successful application of the cancer cell line research team is the development of proteasome inhibitors as a treatment option for multiple myeloma.
Genomic changes
As DNA sequencing technology improves and becomes cheaper, collecting genomic information has become easier. Therefore, it may become easier to analyze the genomic changes of tumors, and this change may be related to the occurrence of tumors. This provides important information because certain changes in the genome have been shown to affect treatment response. Various studies, including the formation of the Cancer Genome Atlas and the International Cancer Genome Consortium, provide comprehensive information on genomic mutations related to cancer development.
Due to the cost and difficulty of clinical trials, it would be beneficial if there are other powerful models that enable researchers to study the development of cancer. To this end, human cancer cell lines provide a viable model, and they have been widely used as a starting point for the search for potential therapies. However, due to incomplete understanding of how genomic variation drives cancer progression, this screening system has been limited in the past. Researchers have managed to find new genomic variants that can be used as markers of treatment sensitivity, otherwise they may not be discovered. This means that not only can some cancer genome profiles be matched to specific treatments, but it can also provide a way to group patients for clinical trials.
Currently, there are approximately 200 lung cancer cell lines available, from small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. Genomic mutations can drive the development of cancer, and lung cancer cell lines play a crucial role in discovering these “driver gene mutations” and genes related to the development of lung cancer. For example, functional tests were performed on cell lines (it is not feasible to use tumors), and then these driver mutations were separated from “passenger mutations.” Other studies have confirmed that they represent genomic regions in lung cancer cell lines, these regions have changed in lung cancer, many of which contain genes related to the pathogenesis of lung cancer.
Therefore, although problems with the cell line have been found, the use of cancer cell lines has led to the use of proteasome inhibitors as a treatment for multiple myeloma, resulting in information about genetic changes as the “driver” of lung cancer, and what may be revealed in the future. Genetic variation is related to treatment sensitivity.
cell lines