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.
Claims17
An in vitro co-culture system, comprising cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and a population of cancer cells, wherein the CAFs are CD90+, wherein the ratio between the cancer cells and the CAFs ranges from 1:100 to 1:10;
- and wherein the CAFs maintain stemness of the cancer cells in the co-culture system.
A method for producing or maintaining cancer stem cells (CSC) in vitro, the method comprising:
- providing a population of cancer cells;
- providing cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which are CD90+;
- and
- co-culturing the population of cancer cells with the CAFs to produce or maintain cancer stem cells in the culture;
- wherein the ratio between the cancer cells and the CAFs ranges from 1:100 to 1:10.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.