Jefferson Scientists Develop New Prostate Cancer Cell Line for Laboratory Research To Advance Prostate Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment
Researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson have established a laboratory prostate cancer cell line they believe
will become a valuable research tool in both understanding and treating prostate cancer.
In the October 1 issue of the journal Clinical Cancer Research,
the researchers say these cells will provide a much needed new model
system for development of diagnostics and therapeutics for prostate
cancer. The new prostate cancer cell line reflects how the cancer can
initially be fueled by the male hormone androgen and how the cells can
then morph into hormone-resistant, aggressive tumors. The majority of
existing prostate cancer cell lines does one or the other, but not
both.
“This
cell line provides a new experimental model for studies on
androgen-related growth of prostate cancer cells and for research on
genetic changes and molecular pathways involved in growth of
androgen-deprived prostate cancer cells,” says the study’s lead author,
Marja Nevalainen, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Cancer Biology at
Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University.
“Hopefully these cells will help us in coming up with new therapies, and will also be valuable in understanding the genetic
changes that occur when prostate cancer does not respond to hormones,” she says.
Men
diagnosed with prostate cancer are often treated with agents that
suppress production of androgen, because the hormone provides the fuel
that promotes cancer growth. But once androgen is gone, the cancer can
find a new way to grow – and become more resistant to treatment.
This
new cell line, known as CWR22Pc, is derived from the CWR22 primary
xenograft tumors, initially established from prostate cancer cells in a
Case Western Reserve University patient. That particular tumor system
can only be maintained as transplantable tumor in mice, so it provides
an incomplete model by which to study the disease, Nevalainen says.
The
new cell line is strictly regulated by androgen, and these cells
express both high levels of the androgen receptor and prostate specific
androgen (PSA), which is used as a common marker of the cancer. And in
mice, when androgens were withdrawn from established tumors established
by CWR22Pc, the tumors initially shrank but then regrew as
androgen-independent tumors – again mimicking what happens in men with
the disease.
“Our hopes are high that this laboratory tool will shed more light on how to treat this puzzling disease,” Nevalainen says.
The study was funded by support from the American Cancer Society, a Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Grant, and a National
Cancer Institute grant.
Media Only Contact:
Jackie Kozloski
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Phone: (215) 955-6300
Published: 10/7/2008