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Projekt Druckansicht

Analyse der Heterogenität von Tumor-initiierenden Zellen in Hepato-biliären Tumoren - Molekulare Charakterisierung und therapeutisches Abzielen auf (Krebs-)Stammzell-Eigenschaften

Fachliche Zuordnung Gastroenterologie
Förderung Förderung von 2012 bis 2020
Projektkennung Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 216380486
 
Erstellungsjahr 2020

Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) are two major types of primary liver cancers (PLC). PLCs rank among the deadliest cancers worldwide with poor clinical outcome. Absence of clinical symptoms and effective biomarkers for early detection are main causes of late diagnosis and detrimental prognosis. Therefore, identification of potentially druggable targets and subsequent development of next-generation targeted therapies, as well as translation of these findings into clinical practice remain crucial. To further govern translational advancements, development of primary culture models that closely recapitulate phenotypic and molecular diversities as well as the cell of origin, i.e. putative cancer stem cell (CSC), of PLC is urgently needed in order to support a translation from laboratory studies to the bedside and improve patient outcome. Major obstacle still represents a lack of models that truly and accurately represent morphological and molecular heterogeneity of original tumors. As an integral part of the here presented project, we report successful establishment and detailed characterization novel patient-derived primary liver cancer cell lines (PPCL) from HCC and intrahepatic CCA. The model was subsequently utilized to address and modulate important aspects of CSC biology in PLC. Morphologic and phenotypic characteristics of newly established cell lines were compared to original tumors and confirmed a high level of similarity. Tumor grading and genomic stability were further assessed to determine background setting for successful PPCL establishment. Our results provide evidence that less differentiated tumors with higher genomic instability possess a higher likelihood of successful PPCL establishment. Time course analyses of selected CSCs markers as well as transcriptomic and genomic changes were performed using FACS as well as nextgeneration sequencing (NGS) to characterize and generate molecular profiles of newly derived PPCL and investigate how accurately they recapitulate original cancer tissue. Analyses confirmed that PPCL retain similar profile as corresponding primary tumors during long-term culturing. Key oncogenic alterations were identified by targeted NGS (e.g. TP53, KRAS, CTNNB1, MET) and cell lines carrying potentially actionable mutations were treated with corresponding specific inhibitors. Overall, our integrative analyses demonstrate that PPCLs represent refined model for discovery of relevant molecular subgroups and exploration of precision medicine approaches for the treatment of primary liver cancer and modulation of putative CSCs.

Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)

 
 

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