CU researchers have developed a human thyroid cancer cell line that expresses the RET/PTC1 rearrangement. The cell line, called CUTC48, was derived from a 68-year-old female patient with metastatic papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). CUTC48 cells do not form flank tumors in mouse models but do express high levels of the RET/PTC1 transcript and protein. This cell line creates a cultured cell model that contains a common genetic alteration in papillary thyroid cancer and can be used to investigate mechanisms thyroid cancer studies and new therapeutic strategies for the disease.
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.