Individualized medicine for renal cell carcinoma: establishment of primary cell line culture from surgical specimens

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The lack of effective "in vivo" and "in vitro" models to predict success of pharmacological therapy for patients with renal cell carcinoma, as well as, the variety of cancer cell types demands the development of better experimental models to understand the pathophysiology of the disease and evaluate drug sensitivity in vitro. PURPOSE: To develop primary renal cancer cell culture irrespective of tumor grade and tumor type, harvested from the patient's pathological specimen immediately after the laparoscopic radical nephrectomy to study potential "in vivo" pharmacological sensitivity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 24 patients (17 males and 7 females). Mean age of 63.1+/-3.1 y.o. The mean size of the renal masses was 7.56+/-3.1 cm. Normal and pathological renal tissue was collected immediately after the specimen was extracted and submitted to enzymatic digestion for 16-24 hours. Clear cell carcinoma cells were selected through multiple passages in DMEM medium supplemented with glucose and antibiotics. RESULTS: Establishment of cell line culture from all the patients' specimens irrespective of tumor grade and tumor type was achieved successfully. In addition to the tumor cell line culture, normal parenchyma tissue yielded primary cell lines to allow testing the response of tumor types to various pharmacological therapeutic agents and toxicity of such treatments to healthy tissue. From the initial collection of the specimens obtained after the removal of the kidney to the development of cell lines took occurred in average 32+6 hrs. The cells in culture showed characteristics of epithelial cells; like expression on cytokeratin and were maintained in culture for more than 20 passages. CONCLUSION: The development of renal cancer cell cultures in vitro is labor intense but may yield a more realistic model to tailor pharmacological therapies and predict therapeutic success prior to "in vivo" application-a step in the direction of individualized medicine for RCC.