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71愛的鼓勵 1訂閱站台

常用的攝護腺癌細胞株

褚志斌(芝加哥大學癌症生物博士)

細胞株(cell line)對許多生物研究非常重要，因為動物的身體非常複雜，因此要研究某些蛋白質的作用或基因表現，需要先從簡單的單一細胞開始研究。癌細胞株是從癌症病患身體上取下的癌細胞，經過培養，使其適合在人體外(培養皿或實驗鼠)中生長，又因癌細胞不像正常身體細胞，有壽命的限制，癌細胞可以一直繁衍分裂下去，因此十分適合用來做癌症生物研究。唯一要注意的，是細胞株畢竟和病人體內的癌細胞有些不同，因此並非所有細胞株觀察到的現象都能應用於病人身上。

攝護腺癌研究上，最常用的細胞株有四種：LNCaP、PC-3、DU-145和CWR22。

CWR是從病人原生腫瘤(primary prostate cancer)上取得，是男性荷爾蒙依賴型(androgen-dependent)，有表現男性荷爾蒙受體(androgen receptor)和攝護腺特異抗原(prostate specific antigen)，但無法在培養皿中生長，只能夠在老鼠體內生長，其繁演(passage)必須由老鼠體內取出再植入另一隻老鼠體內。

PC-3是從轉移到骨頭的攝護腺癌細胞取得，DU-145則是由轉移到腦部的攝護腺癌細胞取得。這兩種細胞株都是非男性荷爾蒙依賴型(androgen-insensitive)，不表現男性荷爾蒙受體或攝護腺特異抗原。但可在培養皿或老鼠體內生長。

LNCaP則是從轉移到淋巴腺的攝護腺癌細胞取得，是最常用的一種攝護腺癌細胞株。其為男性荷爾蒙依賴型，表現男性荷爾蒙受體。在受到男性荷爾蒙 (androgen)的刺激時，會表現可觀的攝護腺特異抗原，因此近似攝護腺病患體內的攝護腺腫瘤。可生長於培養皿和老鼠體內。

以下為我寫的英文版本：

To investigate mechanism of development and progression of prostate cancer, establishment of suitable prostate cancer cell lines is very important. Because of the heterogeneity of prostate cancer, the progression of prostate cancer from androgen-dependent state to androgen-independent state has been very difficult to study. Four most commonly used prostate cancer cell lines are LNCaP, PC-3, DU-145, and CWR22.

CWR22 cells were derived from human primary prostate cancer cells. CWR22 cells are androgen-dependent, and express AR and PSA, but can only grow in vivo. PC-3 cells were derived from a human prostate adenocarcinoma metastasizing to bone, while DU-145 cells were derived from a human prostate adenocarcinoma metastasizing to the brain. Proliferation of PC-3 cells and DU-145 cells were androgen-independent, thus expression of PSA upon androgen treatment in PC-3 and DU-145 are very less. PC-3 and DU-145 cells can grow both in vitro and in vivo. The LNCaP cell line was established from a lymph-node metastatic lesion of human prostatic adenocarcinoma. Proliferation of LNCaP cells is androgen-dependent, and LNCaP cells express AR. LNCaP cells can grow both in vitro and in vivo. Upon androgen treatment, LNCaP cells secrete detectable amount of PSA.