Establishment, characterization, and drug sensitivity of a new Ewing sarcoma cell line (SS-ES-1)

Molecular and biologic biomarkers of Ewing sarcoma: A systematic review

With an annual incidence of less than 1%, Ewing sarcoma mainly occurs in children and young adults. It is not a frequent tumor but is the second most common bone malignancy in children. It has a 5-year survival rate of 65-75%; however, it has a poor prognosis when it relapses in patients. A genomic profile of this tumor can potentially help identify poor prognosis patients earlier and guide their treatment. A systematic review of the articles concerning genetic biomarkers in Ewing sarcoma was conducted using the Google Scholar, Cochrane, and PubMed database. There were 71 articles discovered. Numerous diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive biomarkers were found. However, more research is necessary to confirm the role of some of the mentioned biomarkers. .

Expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors across human malignancies: new therapeutic opportunities

Estrogen and progesterone receptors (ERs and PRs) are known for their prognostic as well as treatment predictive value in breast cancer. Although these receptors are differentially expressed in some other malignancies, and likely participate in the biology of those cancer types, the relevance to outcome and therapy is not well established. The use of ER as a highly effective therapeutic target in oncology was pioneered in breast cancer, and the lessons learned from its success could potentially benefit patients with several other malignancies in which hormone receptors are highly expressed. Indeed, there are several potent drugs available that target hormone receptors. These agents show incontrovertible evidence of benefit in patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. It is conceivable that these drugs may have salutary effects in a variety of cancers other than those originating in the breast, based on the overexpression of hormone receptors in some patients, and the preclinical and clinical reports showing responses to these drugs in diverse cancers, albeit in small series or anecdotally. We therefore undertook a literature review in order to summarize the current data regarding the biologic and clinical implications of expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors in various malignancies and the possibilities for deployment of hormone manipulation beyond breast cancer.

Explant culture of sarcoma patients' tissue

Human sarcomas comprise a heterogeneous group of rare tumors that affect soft tissues and bone. Due to the scarcity and heterogeneity of these diseases, patient-derived cells that can be used for preclinical research are limited. In this study, we investigated whether the tissue explant technique can be used to obtain sarcoma cell lines from fresh as well as viable frozen tissue obtained from 8 out of 12 soft tissue and 9 out of 13 bone tumor entities as defined by the World Health Organization. The success rate, defined as the percent of samples that yielded sufficient numbers of outgrowing cells to be frozen, and the time to freeze were determined for a total of 734 sarcoma tissue specimens. In 552 cases (75%) enough cells were obtained to be frozen at early passage. Success rates were higher in bone tumors (82%) compared with soft tissue tumors (68%), and the mean time to freezing was lower in bone tumors (65 days) compared with soft tissue tumors (84 days). Overall, from 40% of the tissues cells could be frozen at early passage within <2 month after tissue removal. Comparable results as with fresh tissue were obtained after explant of viable frozen patient-derived material. In a selected number of bone and soft tissue sarcoma entities, conventional karyotyping and/or FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) analysis revealed a high amount (>60%) of abnormal cells in 41% of analyzed samples, especially in bone sarcomas (osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma). In conclusion, the explant technique is well suited to establish patient-derived cell lines for a large majority of bone and soft tissue sarcoma entities with adequate speed. This procedure thus opens the possibility for molecular analysis and drug testing for therapeutic decision making even during patient treatment.