Kate Lawrenson1, Nathan Lee2, Hugo A M Torres3, Janet M Lee4, Doerthe Brueggmann5, P Nagesh Rao6, Houtan Noushmehr7, Simon A Gayther8. 1. Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California/Keck School of Medicine, 1450 Biggy Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA. Electronic address: Kate.Lawrenson@med.usc.edu. 2. Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California/Keck School of Medicine, 1450 Biggy Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA. Electronic address: nathanl@usc.edu. 3. Department of Genetics, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa (NAP) denominado Centro de Biologia Sistêmica Integrada (CISBi), São Paulo, Brazil. 4. Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California/Keck School of Medicine, 1450 Biggy Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA. Electronic address: janetmle@usc.edu. 5. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Southern California/Keck School of Medicine, 1450 Biggy Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA. Electronic address: brueggma@usc.edu. 6. Pathology and Lab Medicine, David Geffen University of California Los Angeles, 22-26 Rehab Cntr, 1000 Veteran Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA. Electronic address: nrao@ucla.edu. 7. Department of Genetics, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa (NAP) denominado Centro de Biologia Sistêmica Integrada (CISBi), São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: houtan@fmrp.usp.br. 8. Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California/Keck School of Medicine, 1450 Biggy Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA. Electronic address: gayther@usc.edu.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Endometriosis is a common condition that is associated with an increased risk of developing ovarian carcinoma. Improved in vitro models of this disease are needed to better understand how endometriosis, a benign disease, can undergo neoplastic transformation, and for the development of novel treatment strategies to prevent this progression. METHODS: We describe the generation and in vitro characterization of novel TERT immortalized ovarian endometriosis epithelial cell lines (EEC16-TERT). RESULTS: Expression of TERT alone was sufficient to immortalize endometriosis epithelial cells. TERT immortalization induces an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and perturbation in the expression of genes involved in the development of ovarian cancer. EEC16-TERT was non-tumorigenic when xenografted into immunocompromised mice but grew in anchorage-independent growth assays in an epidermal growth factor and hydrocortisone dependent manner. Colony formation in agar was abolished by inhibition of Src, and the Src pathway was found to be activated in human endometriosis lesions. CONCLUSIONS: This new in vitro model system mimics endometriosis and the early stages of neoplastic transformation in the development of endometriosis associated ovarian cancer. We demonstrate the potential clinical relevance of this model by identifying Src activation as a novel pathway in endometriosis that could be targeted therapeutically, perhaps as a novel strategy to manage endometriosis clinically, or to prevent the development of endometriosis-associated ovarian cancer.
BACKGROUND:Endometriosis is a common condition that is associated with an increased risk of developing ovarian carcinoma. Improved in vitro models of this disease are needed to better understand how endometriosis, a benign disease, can undergo neoplastic transformation, and for the development of novel treatment strategies to prevent this progression. METHODS: We describe the generation and in vitro characterization of novel TERT immortalized ovarian endometriosis epithelial cell lines (EEC16-TERT). RESULTS: Expression of TERT alone was sufficient to immortalize endometriosis epithelial cells. TERT immortalization induces an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and perturbation in the expression of genes involved in the development of ovarian cancer. EEC16-TERT was non-tumorigenic when xenografted into immunocompromised mice but grew in anchorage-independent growth assays in an epidermal growth factor and hydrocortisone dependent manner. Colony formation in agar was abolished by inhibition of Src, and the Src pathway was found to be activated in humanendometriosis lesions. CONCLUSIONS: This new in vitro model system mimics endometriosis and the early stages of neoplastic transformation in the development of endometriosis associated ovarian cancer. We demonstrate the potential clinical relevance of this model by identifying Src activation as a novel pathway in endometriosis that could be targeted therapeutically, perhaps as a novel strategy to manage endometriosis clinically, or to prevent the development of endometriosis-associated ovarian cancer.
Authors: Ranjani Lakshminarasimhan; Claudia Andreu-Vieyra; Kate Lawrenson; Christopher E Duymich; Simon A Gayther; Gangning Liang; Peter A Jones Journal: Cancer Lett Date: 2017-05-06 Impact factor: 8.679
Authors: Dörthe Brüggmann; Alexandra Elizabeth-Martinez; Doris Klingelhöfer; David Quarcoo; Jenny M Jaque; David A Groneberg Journal: BMC Womens Health Date: 2016-09-21 Impact factor: 2.809