Establishment of primary breast cancer cell line as new model for drug screening and basic research

Background and purpose: In 2016 the National Cancer Institute (NCI) decided stopping to use NCI-60 cell lines for drug screening, suggesting that tumor cell lines were losing their value as a tool for drug discovery and basic research. The reason for NCI-60 cells 'retirement' was that the preclinical studies based on traditional cellular and animal models did not obtain the corresponding expected efficacy in clinical trials. Since the major cancer behaviors, such as proliferation and metastasis, are fundamentally altered with long-term culture, the tumor cell lines are not representative of the characteristics of cancer in patients. Currently, scientists hope to create a new cancer model that are derived from fresh patient samples and tagged with details about their clinical past. Our purpose was to create patient-derived breast cancer primary cell lines as new cancer model for drug screening and basic research. Methods: Breast cancer tissues were collected in the Department of Breast Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University. The collection of tumor tissue samples was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University (approval number: 2022 ethics No. 313), and the collection and use of tumor tissues complied with the Declaration of Helsinki. The primary breast cancer cell lines were isolated from the patient's breast cancer tissues and cultured in BCMI medium. After the cells proliferated, the media were replaced with DEME medium. Cell line STR genotyping was done to determine cell-specific genetic markers and identification. Clone formation assay and transplantation assay were done to analyze the ability of breast cancer primary cell lines to form tumors. Results: We created 6 primary breast cancer cell lines. The 6 primary breast cancer cell lines from the patients were tagged with the definitively clinicopathological features, clinical diagnosis, therapeutic regimens, clinical effectiveness and prognostic outcomes. The STR genotyping assays identified the genetic markers and determined the identities of the 6 primary breast cancer cell lines. Clone formation assays and transplantation assay showed that the proliferative capacities of the patient-derived primary breast cancer cell lines were significantly greater compared with the conventional breast cancer cell lines. Conclusion: We created a panel of 6 patient-derived primary breast cancer cell lines as new cancer model for drug screening and basic research in breast cancer.