Methods in Establishment and Identification of Drug-resistant Lung Cancer Cell Lines

TOPICAL COLLECTIONS

Guest Editor

Ning Liu

Shanghai Ocean University, College of Food Science and Technology, Department of Marine Bio-Pharmacology

Dr. Ning Liu is an associate professor in the Department of Marine Bio-Pharmacology at Shanghai Ocean University. Dr. Liu obtained her doctorate in Biomedical Sciences in 2011, from the East China Normal University. Her investigations focused on elucidating the molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis and drug resistance, identifying novel therapeutic targets, and developing new chemotherapeutic agents to conquer drug resistance in tumor therapy. She identified Fbw7 as a novel regulator of KLF5 & KLF2, which are involved in tumorigenesis and endothelial functions. And then, she demonstrated that hTERT facilitated tumor angiogenesis by up-regulating VEGF expression through direct interactions with the VEGF gene and the Sp1 transcription factor. Recently, her lab is studying the anti-cancer effects and possible mechanisms of FGFC1, a type of marine bisindole alkaloid. The results indicate that FGFC1 may be a potential candidate for erlotinib-resistant NSCLC therapy, with the expectation of prolonging the overall survival time of NSCLC patients.

Collection Overview

Lung cancer (LC) is the principal cause of cancer-related mortality throughout the world. Histologically, LC is generally divided into two main categories: small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Despite the chemotherapy and targeted therapies have significantly improved patients’ prognosis, the acquired drug resistance after chemotherapies substantially limits the efficacy of cancer therapy. The 5-year survival rate of patients with LC is only 15%. Therefore, investigating the mechanisms of drug resistance, identifying novel therapeutic targets, and developing new chemotherapeutic agents to overcome cancer drug resistance are urgently needed. The creation of drug-resistant cell lines is the experimental basis for studying the mechanism of drug resistance and identifying novel therapeutic targets.

Nowadays, common strategies to establish drug resistance LC consist of isolating drug-resistant cancer cells in the clinic, treating drug-sensitive cells with continuous constant drug concentration or stepwise increasing doses of a drug over time to acquire resistant cells. And then, measure the expression level of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) to identify the acquired drug resistance to conventional cytotoxic drugs in the developed cell lines. If the used drug is a targeted therapy, sequencing the kinase domain of the drug target gene to identify the drug resistance mutation sites, thus validating the acquisition of resistance.

The aim of this collection (but is not limited to) is to describe detailed state-of-the-art protocols and procedures for isolation, establishment, and identification techniques of drug-resistant cell lines currently in use in the LC field, including introduce novel approaches. Contributions in various aspects are welcomed.