Conclusions
Our study showed the challenge of in vitro cancer drug testing using enzymatic cell digestion. The upregulation of many targeted pathways in the cultured cells may partially explain the common clinical failure of the targeted cancer drugs that pass the in vitro testing.
Methods
Fresh tissue samples from HNSCC patients were obtained perioperatively and single cells were enzymatically isolated and cultured on either plastic, Matrigel or Myogel. We treated the cultured cells with cisplatin, cetuximab, and irradiation; and performed cell viability measurement. RNA was isolated from fresh tissue samples, freshly isolated single cells and cultured cells, and RNA sequencing transcriptome profiling and gene set enrichment analysis were performed.
Objective
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a highly aggressive tumor with a 5-year mortality rate of ~ 50%. New in vitro
Results
Cancer cells obtained from fresh tissue samples changed their gene expression regardless of the culturing conditions, which may be due to the enzymatic digestion of the tissue. Myogel was more effective than Matrigel at supporting the upregulation of pathways related to cancer cell proliferation and invasion. The impacts of anti-cancer treatments varied between culturing conditions. Conclusions: Our study showed the challenge of in vitro cancer drug testing using enzymatic cell digestion. The upregulation of many targeted pathways in the cultured cells may partially explain the common clinical failure of the targeted cancer drugs that pass the in vitro testing.