Abstract B43: Characterization of ovarian cancer cells as in vivo models for preclinical studies.

Women are most often diagnosed with ovarian cancer in late stages of the disease, making this malignancy the most common cause of death from gynecological cancers in the United States. Identification of factors associated with disease subtypes and clinical outcome is critical to enable pathway-targeted therapeutic advances. As with other systems, the value of cell lines for in vitro and pre-clinical work lies in choosing groups of cell lines with similar characteristics. To date, selection of cell lines has been based on criteria such as patient history, histological subtype at diagnosis, mutation patterns, signaling patterns and tumorigenicity in mice. Most available ovarian cancer cell lines were generated decades ago and variable information exists as to these parameters. In recent years, several studies have reported comprehensive data gathered for the most commonly available ovarian cancer cell lines. While these reviews have established greater consensus regarding the molecular characteristics of these cell lines, data on in vivo tumorigenicity of these cell lines is still only sporadically available, making it difficult to translate in vitro work to xenograft models. We have studied the tumorigenicity of 16 commonly used ovarian cancer cell lines introduced through three distinct anatomical locations: subcutaneous, intraperitoneal, and ovary intrabursal injection. We also characterized these cell lines according to gene expression profiles and phospho-proteomics, in order to create an integrated panel of information by which to choose cells logically for specific research questions. Here we report a comprehensive analysis of in vivo growth patterns and histopathology, linked to molecular characteristics. This will provide a valuable resource to the ovarian cancer research community, and better guiding the choice of cell lines for in vitro studies that can be translated efficiently into xenograft testing. Citation Format: Lidia Hernandez, Marianne K. Kim, L Tiffany Lyle, Patricia S. Steeg, Christina M. Annunziata. Characterization of ovarian cancer cells as in vivo models for preclinical studies. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Ovarian Cancer Research: Exploiting Vulnerabilities; Oct 17-20, 2015; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2016;22(2 Suppl):Abstract nr B43.