TXCCR Laboratories
TXCCR Operations Center
C Patrick Reynolds, MD PhD
Cancer Center TTUHSC School of Medicine, Lubbock TX
The Operations Center coordinates TXCCR operations, data collection and management, drug access and distribution, and material transfer agreements. The Operations Center houses the biorepository for banking of cryopreserved TXCCR models and newly established cell lines and xenografts. The Operations Center also conducts quality control studies for all models, including short tandem repeat validation of origin, mycoplasma testing, and adventitial viral testing.
Sensitivity of New Models to Anti-Cancer Drugs
Min Kang, PharmD
Cancer Center TTUHSC School of Medicine, Lubbock TX
Dr. Kang's laboratory characterizes the in vitro drug responsiveness of selected TXCCR cell lines, in particular those established from patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and lymphomas. Drug activity is assessed with the multi-log fluorescence-based DIMSCAN cytotoxicity assay.
New Model Generation and Molecular Characterization
Adi Gazdar, MD
UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
C Patrick Reynolds, MD PhD
Cancer Center TTUHSC School of Medicine, Lubbock TX
Establishing new cell line models is carried out for breast and lung cancers in Dr. Gazdar's laboratory, while new cell lines of pancreatic carcinoma, (and in anticipation of future expansion of target diseases) gastrointestinal cancers, lymphoid malignancies, myeloid leukemias, ovarian cancer, and melanoma are established in Dr. Reynolds' laboratory. A major goal of initiating these new cell lines is to establish lines in which matched pairs prior to and after progression on "standard" therapy area available, matched in vitro and direct xenograft lines, and lines initiated in physiological hypoxia (2% and 5% O2) as the latter lines may better recapitulate the biology of lines growing in vivo, where cells are not exposed to the high oxygen of "standard" culture conditions.
Short tandem repeat profiles for all cell lines and xenografts are validated against original patient material, and lines are verified free of mycoplasma and adventitial virus.
Molecular characterization of the models includes markers known to be associated with particular diseases, response to therapy, or malignant cells (telomerase) will be assessed on all models. As resources permit, all cell lines and xenografts used for testing will have genome-wide expression profiling data obtained, which will guide the choice of models in testing targeted agents. Genomic changes (mutations, deletions, fusions, and SNPS) linked to drug responsiveness will also be measured. As molecular data on the models are assembled, cluster analysis will seek relationships between between cell lines, xenografts, and data taken from human tumor samples.