Leptomeningeal metastatic cells adopt two phenotypic states.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Leptomeningeal metastasis (LM), or spread of cancer cells into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), is characterized by a rapid onset of debilitating neurological symptoms and markedly bleak prognosis. The lack of reproducible in vitro and in vivo models has prevented the development of novel, LM-specific therapies. Although LM allows for longitudinal sampling of floating cancer cells with a spinal tap, attempts to culture patient-derived leptomeningeal cancer cells have not been successful.

Aim

We, therefore, employ leptomeningeal derivatives of human breast and lung cancer cell lines that reproduce both floating and adherent phenotypes of human LM in vivo and in vitro.

Methods and results

We introduce a trypsin/EDTA-based fractionation method to reliably separa

SUBMITTER: Remsik J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7772527 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature