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US 10,865,388 B2Granted
Method for identifying anti-cancer agents using an in vitro cell culture system that maintains cancer cell stemness
AssigneeNational Taiwan University
InventorsPan-Chyr Yang, Huei-Wen Chen, Wan-Jiun Chen
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Abstract
An in vitro co-culture system comprising cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and cancer cells for producing and maintaining cancer stem cells and uses thereof for identifying agents capable of reducing cancer cell stemness. Also disclosed herein are a paracrine network through which CAFs facilitate production and/or maintenance of cancer stem cells and the use of components of such a paracrine network for prognosis purposes and for identifying cancer patients who are likely to respond to certain treatment.
Claims10
A method for identifying an anti-cancer drug, comprising:
- providing an in vitro co-culture system comprising cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs), a population of cancer cells, and a drug candidate;
- wherein the CAFs are CD90+, wherein in the in vitro co-culture system, the ratio between the cancer cells and the CAFs ranges from 1:100 to 1:10;
- and wherein the CAFs maintain or induce stemness of the cancer cells in the co-culture system;
- determining the level of cancer cell stemness in the co-culture, and
- identifying the drug candidate as an anti-cancer drug, if the level of cancer cell stemness in the co-culture is decreased as compared to that of a co-culture of cancer cells and CAFs of the same type as those in the in vitro co-culture system in the absence of the drug candidate.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.