Organotypic Epithelial Raft Cultures as a Three-Dimensional In Vitro Model of Merkel Cell Carcinoma.

ABSTRACT: Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare type of skin cancer for which an in vitro model is still lacking. MCC tumorigenesis is associated either with the integration of Merkel cell polyomavirus into the host genome, or with the accumulation of somatic mutations upon chronic exposure to UV light. Transgenic animals expressing the viral oncoproteins, which are constitutively expressed in virus-related MCC, do not fully recapitulate MCC. Although cell-line-derived xenografts have been established for the two subtypes of MCC, they still present certain limitations. Here, we generated organotypic epithelial raft cultures (OERCs) of MCC by using primary human keratinocytes and both virus-positive and virus-negative MCC cell lines. The primary human keratinocytes and the tumor cells were grown on t

SUBMITTER: Temblador A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8870341 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature