Endometrial cancer and its cell lines

Abstract

Endometrial cancer is one of the most common gynaecological malignancies worldwide. One type of research in this field is the growing of cell lines (CLs) and cultures, which can be used to explore the biological mechanisms of cancer. The purpose of this review is to offer an overview of the current literature and highlight the importance of correct CL studies. We carried out a literature analysis of more than 60 articles from the Pubmed, Medline databases that were almost exclusively published in indexed journals in the last 10 years as well as the primary originating scientific studies of specific CLs. We then summarized the newest findings and recommendations. Cell lines are becoming widely used as in vitro tumour models. Recent work has shown inconsistencies in nomenclature and culturing of CLs. Their genomic evolution leads to a high degree of variation across CL strains therefore it is of the utmost importance to recognize the variability within laboratory cancer models. Laboratories must adapt, incorporate additional characterisation techniques and view this situation as an opportunity to improve the reproducibility of pre-clinical cancer research. The authors offer a comprehensive literature review about endometrial cancer CLs, a review of the current literature and advice on culturing CLs.

Keywords: Cancer cell line; Cell isolation; Cell line; Endometrial cancer; In vitro models; Tissue culture.