An international collaboration of Cancer research institutes (US National Cancer Institute [NCI] in Bethesda, Maryland; Cancer Research UK in London; the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, UK; and Hubrecht Organoid Technology of Utrecht in the Netherlands) aims to grow 1,000 new cell lines as a novel cancer model to study.
The goal is to fully identify the diversity between cancer subtypes which seem to have relatively common genetic features. Each cell line should be matched with clinical data about the donor patient and with his response to cancer treatment. Furthermore, cells will be immortalized and grown as organoids in 3D cultures. This model will better reflect human cancers, and cells may be used to screen new drugs and set up novel protocols.
The global initiative promotes procedures and expertise sharing, thus favouring also reproducibility and feasibility of experimental data. In addition, it would be easier to collect samples and generate models for rare cancer types; the close interaction between clinical wards and labs will rush the research towards novel procedures to generate models form difficult-to-grow cancer cells, such as lymphoma or to refine the technique that it can be used to determine whether an individual’s cancer cells is likely to be metastatic, or to respond to a given therapy.
