Abstract
Background: Colorectal carcinoma is one of the most common malignancies in western countries. Among different approaches to its research, primary cancer cell lines can play an important role.
Aim: The main purposes of this study were: 1) to establish an effective and reproducible method of colorectal cancer cell isolation and cultivation from primary tumours and lymph node metastases and 2) to elucidate the biological features of the tumours favouring successful cell cultivation. Materials and Methods: The tumour cells were obtained from colectomy specimens.
Primary tumour and lymph node metastasis tissue was used for establishing the tissue cultures. Colectomy samples were further processed for routine histopathological assessment.
Features of tissue culture cells were assessed using phase contrast microscopy and immunohistochemical techniques. WST-1 assay and X-CELLigence real time analysis were carried out for viability and proliferation testing before and after treatment with irinotecan and oxaliplatin.
Molecular features of the tumour including K-RAS/B-RAF/N-RAS mutations were tested using allele-specific PCR.Results. In total, we obtained 33 samples from the primary site of tumours and 20 samples from lymph node metastases; in total, 27 cell lines were successfully isolated.
Morphologic features characteristic of tumour cells in primary cell lines and epithelial differentiation (positive for cytokeratin) were evaluated. Higher tumour stage, angioinvasion and presence of perineural spread in primary tumour correlated positively with successful cell isolation from lymph node metastasis.
A higher proliferation potential was observed in the primary tumour cells, whereas higher sensitivity to irinotecan was found in the lymph node metastatic cells. Conclusions: Using mechanical dissociation, we successfully derived and cultivated CRC cells from primary tumours and lymph node metastases with success rate 39 % and 70% respectively.