World Tumor Bank
An international project to create and store "live" cancer models has been launched
Oleg Lischuk, N+1
Major global cancer research organizations have launched a project to produce models of human tumors that are as close as possible to the originals in biological characteristics for research purposes, according to a press release from the National Cancer Institute International collaboration to create new cancer models to accelerate research.
The project called Human Cancer Models Initiative (HCMI) was created and will be funded jointly by the US National Cancer Institute (NCI), the British Cancer Research UK and Wellcome Trust, as well as the Dutch non-profit company Hubrecht Organoid Technology.
The goal of HCMI will be to use various advanced technologies to create models of human malignant neoplasms that maximally correspond to real tumors in cellular diversity and tissue architecture. In particular, it is planned to use artificial organs (organoids) from cell cultures on hydrogel and other bases, the cultivation of human cancer cells on a substrate of live mouse cells and other techniques. The main requirement for models is to develop and respond to medications and other exposures in a similar way to the corresponding forms of cancer.
Organoids grown from colon cancer cells
The researchers will take the cells for the models from the patient's tumor samples. The genomes of the original cancer cells and the models derived from them will be fully sequenced, the results together with the current clinical data of patients will be made available for study.
During the pilot period of two to three years, it is planned to create 1000 models (600 by NCI, 200 by Cancer Research UK and Wellcome Trust, and the same number by Hubrecht Organoid Technology). The main part will be common forms of cancer, but NCI will also try to simulate rare and pediatric tumors, said Louis Staudt, director of the Cancer Genomics Center at NCI. The first samples will be available for research until the end of 2016. In the long term, the project is planned to expand to 10 thousand models.
"HCMI will serve as a resource that will give scientists the opportunity to study many aspects of cancer, including tumor heterogeneity, disease progression, drug resistance mechanisms and the development of high–precision targeted treatment," writes the press service of Cancer Research UK.
Currently, most cancer research is carried out using the so-called immortal cell lines of human tumors. This approach is imperfect, since pure cell cultures often differ in properties from real tumors. In addition, with prolonged reproduction in laboratories (some cell lines live for more than half a century), cells can change and lose their original properties.
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13.07.2016