Isolation and Immortalization of Patient-derived Cell Lines from Muscle Biopsy for Disease Modeling

Summary

This protocol describes techniques for live cell isolation and primary culture of myogenic and fibroblast cell lines from muscle or skin tissue. A technique for the immortalization of these cell lines is also described. Altogether, these protocols provide a reliable tool to generate and preserve patient-derived cells for downstream applications.

Abstract

The generation of patient-specific cell lines represents an invaluable tool for diagnostic or translational research, and these cells can be collected from skin or muscle biopsy tissue available during the patient’s diagnostic workup. In this protocol, we describe a technique for live cell isolation from small amounts of muscle or skin tissue for primary cell culture. Additionally, we provide a technique for the immortalization of myogenic cell lines and fibroblast cell lines from primary cells. Once cell lines are immortalized, substantial expansion of patient-derived cells can be achieved. Immortalized cells are amenable to many downstream applications, including drug screening and in vitro correction of the genetic mutation. Altogether, these protocols provide a reliable tool to generate and preserve patient-derived cells for downstream applications.

Introduction

Molecular diagnostics has dramatically evolved in the past 20 years. Genomic DNA is now routinely isolated from sputum or cheek swab, while in the past it required a blood draw. With the current fast turnaround time and ease of gene sequencing, many disease mutations are routinely identified with no need of additional testing. In the case of muscle disease diagnostics, identification of dozens of new genes in the past decade responsible for either muscular dystrophy or myopathy have dramatically changed the ways these diseases are diagnosed ^1,2. Currently, there are dozens of genes that have been identified as causes of muscular dystrophy and congenital....

Protocol

NOTE: Protocols for collection of human tissue must be reviewed and approved by the Institutional IRB committee. Collection of discarded, de-identified human tissue has been approved by the Boston Children’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital IRB Committees. The methods described below have been applied for the isolation of myogenic cells from de-identified, discarded tissue. The described methods are applicable to tissue collected from consented patient material.

1. Cell Isolation

1. Dissociation of muscle biopsy and purification of myogenic cells
   1. Pre-weigh a 10 cm tissue culture plate in a tissue cu....

Results

Figure 1 illustrates some of the key steps involved in the primary tissue dissociation: the exact amount of tissue is weighed in a sterile tissue culture petri dish (Figure 1A, B). The tissue is then finely minced using sterile scalpels, until a tissue slurry is obtained (Figure 1C, D). Following addition of the digestion enzymes, primary muscle tissue dissociation is usually achieved by enzymatic digestion within 45-90 min. The progression of tissue digestion is typical.......

Discussion

Cells as a Useful Resource

The isolation and culture of myogenic cell populations is extremely useful when establishing disease phenotypes or in vitro models of disease. The myogenic cell isolation procedure described here allows the isolation of myoblasts and fibroblasts from skeletal muscle specimens, which can then be propagated, differentiated, or immediately analyzed. Myoblast structure and function can be assessed through microscopic examination, evaluation of cell survival, eva.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Equipment
Tissue culture biosafety hood	Baker Company, Inc.	Model SterilGuard Hood
Benchtop centrifuge, such as Beckman Model	Beckman Coulter	Model Allegra 6R	If cell sorting is performed, a centrifuge with refrigeration is preferred
Microscope	Nikon	Model Eclipse TS100
Tissue culture incubator, connected to a CO2 source	Forma Scientific	Series II
Fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS)	Becton Dickinson	Model Aria
Reagents for isolation of primary myoblasts from tissue
Dispase II	Roche Applied Science	#04942078001	Prepare a sock solution of 2.4U/ml in DMEM
Collagenase D	Roche Applied Science	#088882001	Prepare a stock solution of 10 mg/ml
1x Sterile Hank’s Balanced Saline Solution (HBSS), calcium and magnesium free	GIBCO Life Technologies	#14185-052
Bovine serum albumin, fraction V	Sigma	#05470	Prepare a sterile  solution of 1X HBSS 0.5% BSA for FACS sorting
Sterile growth medium for myoblasts: Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium (DMEM) with high glucose (4.5 g) supplemented with 30% fetal bovine serum	GIBCO Life Technologies	11965-092	Contains L- glutamine
RBC lysis solution	Qiagen	158904
Propidium Iodide stock 10mg/ml	Sigma	P4170	Prepare the stock solution by diluting the powder in sterile distilled water
Anti-human CD56 antibody for flow cytometry	Biolegend	318310	APC-conjugated antibody, other labels are avaialable
Reagents for immortalization of primary myoblasts
Ecotropic packaging cell line PE	Cell Biolabs	RV-101
Amphotropic packaging cell line PA3174	Cell Biolabs	RV-102
Pig skin gelatin	Sigma	G1890-500g	Prepare a stock solution of 0.1% gelatin in water. Coat the dish with the solution at 37°C for one hour. Remove the solution and add medium.
PolyJet	Signagen	SL100688
G418	Fisher	345812
Hygromycin	EMD Biosciences	400051
pBabe plasmids containing mCDK4 and hTERT	not commercially available		Stadler et al, 2013
Qiagen plasmid midiprep kit	Qiagen	12143
Medium 199	Life Technologies	Medium 199 (31150022)
Dulbecco’s modified Eagle medium (DMEM)	Life Technologies	DMEM (11965-092)	Mix 4:1 DMEM:199
Myoblast growth medium: 4:1 Dulbecco’s modified Eagle medium (DMEM) and Medium 199 supplemented with 15% fetal bovine serum; 0.02 M HEPES buffer; 1.4 mg/L vitamin B12; 0.03 mg/L ZnSO4, 0.055 mg/L dexamethasone, 2.5 μg/L hepatocyte growth factor and 10 μg/L beta fibroblast growth factor.	Life technologie (DMEM, F199); Atlanta Biological (FBS); Invitrogen (Hepes); Fisher (ZincSulfate); Sigma (Vit.B12, Dexamethasone); Chemicon international (HGF); Biopioneer (betaFGF)	#15630-080 (Hepes); #Z68-500 (ZnSO); #V2876.#D4902 (Vit.B12, Dex); GF116 (HGF); HRP-0011 (bFGF).	Prepare media and stock solution Vit. B12 (20mg/ml); ZincSulfate (60µg/ml); Dex (55µg/µl) separately for easier use. HGF stock solution (5µg/ml) and FGF (20µg/ml) should be added freshly every week at the final working concentration.
TrypLE express	GIBCO Life Technologies	12605-010
Myosin heavy chain antibody for immunostaining	Developmental Hybridoma Bank	MF20	Clone MF20
Desmin Antibody for immunostaining	Thermo Scientific	MS-376-S0	Clone D33
Horse serum	Invitrogen	26050-088
Reagents for primary skin fibroblast isolation
Transport medium: RPMI 1640 supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 0.2% penicillin/streptomycin	RPMI medium 1640: GIBCO Life Technologies	11875-093
Human primary fibroblast culture medium: RPMI 1640 supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1% penicillin/streptomycin	Fetal bovine serum: Thermo Scientific	SH30071.03
Collagenase solution: Collagenase type 2 (100 mg) resuspended in 12.5 ml of fibroblast culture medium and filter-sterilized	Worthington	4176
Sterile 1X Phosphate Buffer Saline (PBS) calcium and magnesium free	Lonza	17-516F
Materials for isolation of primary myoblasts
50 ml and 15 ml sterile conical tubes	GeneMate/Bioexpress	C-3394-4 (50 ml) ; C3394-1 (15 ml))
Sterile scalpels	Aspen Surgical	372610
Hemocytometer	Hausser Scientific	1492
Sterile 5, 10, and 25 ml pipettes	Bellco glass	1226-05010 (5 ml); 1200-10010 (10 ml) ;1228-25050 (25 ml)	Reusable pipettes are washed, cotton plugged and autoclaved before use
Sterile tissue culture-treated plastic dishes (10 cm)	BD Falcon	353003
Sterile nylon cell strainers (100 µm and 40 µm size)	BD Falcon	352340 (40µm); 352360 (100µm)
Materials for myoblast immortalization
Sterile 0.45 µm filters	Millipore	SLHV013SL
Cloning rings	Corning	#3166-8	To be cleaned and autoclaved before and after use
Materials for fibroblast cell lines
Sterile 35 mm tissue culture-treated plastic dishes	Greiner bio-one	628160
Sterile scalpels	DeRoyal	D4510A
Sterile T25 tissue culture flasks	Techno Plastic Product, TPP	90026	sold in the USA by MIDSCI
TrypLE express	GIBCO Life Technologies	12605-010