CU researchers have developed a human thyroid cancer cell line with the BRAF V600E mutation. The cell line, called CUTC5, was derived from a 73-year-old female patient with a malignant pleural effusion and was developed to study the underlying biology of thyroid cancer and response to therapy. The research team verified that the CUTC5 cells form tumors in orthotopic and flank patient-derived xenograft (PDX) mouse models. This cell line creates a critical cultured cell model to study the biology of thyroid cancer and to investigate new therapeutic strategies.
Schweppe RE, Pozdeyev N, Pike LA, et al. Establishment and characterization of four novel thyroid cancer cell lines and PDX models expressing the RET/PTC1 rearrangement, BRAFV600E, or RASQ61R as drivers. Mol Cancer Res. 2019. pii: molcanres.1026.2018. doi: 10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-18-1026.