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An international team of researchers developed almost 700 new cancer models derived from patient tumors that could help researchers identify new drug targets for cancer treatments.
The models are described in a paper published in Nature.
The models, which represent 25 different types of cancer and are openly available, were constructed under the 10-year Human Cancer Models Initiative, funded by the National Cancer Institute and the Wellcome Trust.
To construct a majority of the models, researchers converted tumor cells into organoids, which form three-dimensional clusters that more closely resemble the structure of the original tumor than traditional, two-dimensional cell lines.
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Once the organoids and cell lines were established, which can take up to a year, the researchers analyzed them to ensure their genomic sequences, RNA expression and epigenomic modifications closely matched the original tumors.
“Since the sequencing of the human genome and the analysis of cancer genomes over the last 20 years, we have had many ideas about cancer targets, but we need experimental systems in the lab to validate those targets and launch drug discovery projects,” Jesse Boehm, one of the senior authors of the study, said in a press release.
The initiative began after the Cancer Genome Atlas, joint effort between the National Cancer Institute and the National Human Genome Research Institute, found that the diversity of tumor genetic profiles was not captured by the approximately 1,000 patient-derived cancer cell lines that existed at the time. The Atlas began as the three-year pilot focused on lung, brain and ovarian cancers before expanding to molecularly characterize 33 types of cancer.
“We realized that a thousand wasn’t enough, that the international community needed to invest in many more thousands to represent all cancers, all genotypes, all ethnicities,” Boehm said. “Most existing models come from European and Southeast Asian patients, and many rare cancers are missing.”
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The researchers were able to convert approximately one third of the 2,700 tumor samples they received from participating hospitals across the U.S., UK and the Netherlands. Most samples came from common cancers, but they also included approximately 150 rare types of cancer.
The models now live in the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), a nonprofit biological resource center based in Manassas, Virginia. The ATCC maintains what it describes as the world’s largest and most diverse collection of human and animal cell products, along with molecular genomic tools, microbe products and other materials.
Each model also includes data from the patient whose sample was used to start the cell line, germline mutations and information on previous treatments.
“We now have about 2,000, but if we really want to represent all humans with cancer in our preclinical research, more work is needed. We have to invite patients to donate tissue to make research tools that the whole world can use,” Boehm said. “I think this will hopefully be not the end, but the beginning.”
Editor’s note: This article was updated with additional information and attribution after initial publication.
Previously: Boston Scientific’s microscopic TheraSphere devices go from nuclear reactors to tumors to kill cancer
