Anti-Cancer Drug Screening in Vitro
Anti-cancer Drug Screening in Vitro
Introduction:
The incidences of cancer remain high despite advances in our understanding of cancer. Cancer is a class of diseases characterized by out of control cell growth. Normal cells are constantly subject to signals that control whether the cell should divide, differentiate into another cell or die. Cancer cells develop a degree of independence from these signals, which results in uncontrolled growth and proliferation. If this proliferation is allowed to continue and spread, it can be fatal (1). Almost 90% of cancer-related deaths are due to metastasis – the complex process of tumor spread through the lymphatic system or bloodstream.
The emergence of genomic technologies holds therapeutic potential for personalized cancer management. Personalized cancer management combines standard chemotherapy and radiation treatments with genomic profiling and in vitro cell proliferation studies. Individualized genomic profiling allows the researcher to identify specific genes that contribute to unregulated cellular mechanisms that normally control cellular growth. By determining the molecular profile of a specific cancer, suitable treatment can be considered that target those gene products (2).
Cultured cancer cells have the capacity to dramatically exceed normal doubling times to almost indefinite levels, unlike normal cells. HeLa cells are a great example of this. One of the most widely used continuous cell lines in research is the HeLa cell line, which was derived in 1951 from Henrietta Lacks, a cervical caner patient in 1951. These cells continue to grow and proliferate in hundreds of laboratories across the world to this day. These cancer cells have been called ‘Immortal’ as they have bypassed the senescence regulators within the cell and acquired the capacity for unlimited division.
Measurement of cell viability and proliferation forms the basis for numerous in vitro assays of a cell population’s response to external
Introduction:
The incidences of cancer remain high despite advances in our understanding of cancer. Cancer is a class of diseases characterized by out of control cell growth. Normal cells are constantly subject to signals that control whether the cell should divide, differentiate into another cell or die. Cancer cells develop a degree of independence from these signals, which results in uncontrolled growth and proliferation. If this proliferation is allowed to continue and spread, it can be fatal (1). Almost 90% of cancer-related deaths are due to metastasis – the complex process of tumor spread through the lymphatic system or bloodstream.
The emergence of genomic technologies holds therapeutic potential for personalized cancer management. Personalized cancer management combines standard chemotherapy and radiation treatments with genomic profiling and in vitro cell proliferation studies. Individualized genomic profiling allows the researcher to identify specific genes that contribute to unregulated cellular mechanisms that normally control cellular growth. By determining the molecular profile of a specific cancer, suitable treatment can be considered that target those gene products (2).
Cultured cancer cells have the capacity to dramatically exceed normal doubling times to almost indefinite levels, unlike normal cells. HeLa cells are a great example of this. One of the most widely used continuous cell lines in research is the HeLa cell line, which was derived in 1951 from Henrietta Lacks, a cervical caner patient in 1951. These cells continue to grow and proliferate in hundreds of laboratories across the world to this day. These cancer cells have been called ‘Immortal’ as they have bypassed the senescence regulators within the cell and acquired the capacity for unlimited division.
Measurement of cell viability and proliferation forms the basis for numerous in vitro assays of a cell population’s response to external