In the study, published in Pigment Cell Melanoma Research and titled “Multiple murine BRaf (V600E) melanoma cell lines with sensitivity to PLX4032”, the team designed a protocol that permits the in vitro growth of murine BRAF melanoma cells, that can then be transplanted into mice.
The big advantage lies within the fact that these cells are immunologically compatible with the recipient mice, while human cell lines need to be transplanted into immunocompromised mice to grow, impairing an important arm of research concerning the effect of the immune system in the development of these tumors.
Melanoma is responsible for more than 80% of all skin cancer deaths and has a high metastatic potential, rapidly spreading to the lymph nodes and other organs. The median survival times of metastatic melanoma is less than nine months, and this stage of advanced disease is often associated with the BRAFV600E mutation, found in about 50% of all melanomas and responsible for activating specific enzyme pathways involved in many different cell processes.
“The ability to study these mouse melanoma cell lines both in culture and in mice with an intact immune system is an experimental advantage,” lead researcher Constance Brinckerhoff, PhD, said in a press release.
Since this study was published, back in May 2014, there have been numerous requests for these cell lines from different laboratories around the world. “More than 20 labs have contacted us since the paper was published and the feedback we’ve received indicates investigators worldwide are seeing experimental advantages in using the new cell lines. For years, the lack of mouse cell lines that harbor the BRAF mutation has been a barrier to rapidly moving research forward”, said Dr. Brinckerhoff.
“Given the heterogeneity of human BRAFV600E melanoma cell lines, having multiple murine BRafV600E cell lines will be an important resource for the scientific community. The established BRafV600E SM1 cell line has been a useful model in supporting the therapeutic potential of combining BRAF inhibitors with immunotherapy”, the authors conclude in their study.