Metastatic Human Hepatoblastoma Cells Exhibit Enhanced Tumorigenicity, Invasiveness and a Stem Cell-Like Phenotype
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Read the article on jpedsurg.org ↗Article · Feb 2022 · 1 min read
In brief
In brief
Researchers developed HLM_3, a metastatic hepatoblastoma cell line derived from serial murine injections, which demonstrates increased tumorigenicity, invasiveness, and stem cell characteristics compared to parent cells. This model exhibits chemotherapy resistance and provides a valuable tool for studying metastatic mechanisms and testing novel therapeutic approaches in pediatric liver cancer.
Written by the GCMD Library team from the article.
Background/Purpose
Metastatic hepatoblastoma continues to pose a significant treatment challenge, primarily because the precise mechanisms involved in metastasis are not fully understood, making cell lines and preclinical models that depict the progression of disease and metastasis-related biology paramount. We aimed to generate and characterize a metastatic hepatoblastoma cell line to create a model for investigation of the molecular mechanisms associated with metastasis.
Materials/Methods
Using a murine model of serial tail vein injections of the human hepatoblastoma HuH6 cell line, non-invasive bioluminescence imaging, and dissociation of metastatic pulmonary lesions, we successfully established and characterized the metastatic human hepatoblastoma cell line, HLM_3.
Results
The HLM_3 cells exhibited enhanced tumorigenicity and invasiveness, both in vitro and in vivo compared to the parent HuH6 cell line. Moreover, HLM_3 metastatic hepatoblastoma cells exhibited a stem cell-like phenotype and were more resistant to the standard chemotherapeutic cisplatin.
Conclusion
This newly described metastatic hepatoblastoma cell line offers a novel tool to study mechanisms of tumor metastasis and evaluate new therapeutic strategies for metastatic hepatoblastoma.