We would like to screen an RNAi library for metastasis players in human samples but not sure which cell line or assay should be used.
In our commercial xenografts, we've noticed that MDA-MB-231 is one of the more aggressive cancer cell lines with metastatic potential (http://altogenlabs.com/xenograft-models/breast-cancer-xenograft/mda-mb-231-xenograft-model/). Although we do try to maintain only one tumor for statistical purposes, metastasis studies are also possible and are easily done with such a well-characterized cell line.
Metastasis is complicated and involves many strategies and may be site specific in some cases. My suggestion would be to use different metastatic cells (melanomas, prostate, etc). Please do see our strategy we used in Cancer research 2000. The publication is in my profile. I would be happy to collaborate
I use BLM melanoma cells, they are a high metastatic cell line. In SCID mice you can found it in lung first and then in other organs. We have BLM clones with CXCR4 overexpression and they are more metastatic than wt.
check PMID: 19147814 and 16397238
MDA-MB-231 and SUM1315 are highly metastatic breast cancer cells in in vivo mouse models
the very aggressive melanoma (in older textbooks you may find it as the dark queen of malignomas!) is usually working nicely - but on the other hand a quite specific tumor with comparably low prevalence - and possibly has features different from the more common tumors (lung, breast, colon, or liver in some parts of the world).
Fahd suggests a good very strategy: use different lines and see what is commen and what is different. I may be worth some consideration how different you want then to be. For a gene or mechanusm of general importance, widely different lines make sense, e.g. breast, melanoma, liver, colon, ... etc. This postulates, however, that there is something common in metastasis of these different tumors. If different tumor types use completely different mechanisms - without overlap - to metastasise, there wil be no "always important" player. In that case, more closely related line, e.g. from the same tissue (e.g. breast) with dfferntly agressive metastasising behaviour may be better.
In addition, consider that metastasisis has differnt features or steps and try to know how they are in each of the lines you look at: Rough examples: Invasion, eg. entering blood stream; surviving in the blood stream and wherever he cells get stuck (preference for different tissues to settle down?), and growing there. Even reaching the distant site (different organ) and surviving there does not necessarily mean there is clinically relevant metastasis - expamples where meatastases become obvious only more than ten years after removal of the primary tumors show that the cancer cells can just sit there fore quite some time before they really start growing in the new environment, in the new organ
Well said Harald. We scientists need to really think about effective strategies and outside the box rather than do what the others have done!
The best murine cancer lines for metastasis are B16F10 and 4T1.
For human metastatic studies HCT-116, Mia PaCa-2 and PC-3M are the best choice.
In our commercial xenografts, we've noticed that MDA-MB-231 is one of the more aggressive cancer cell lines with metastatic potential (http://altogenlabs.com/xenograft-models/breast-cancer-xenograft/mda-mb-231-xenograft-model/). Although we do try to maintain only one tumor for statistical purposes, metastasis studies are also possible and are easily done with such a well-characterized cell line.
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