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In vitro metastatic colonization of human ovarian cancer cells to the omentum

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Abstract

Despite the potentially crucial contributions of the omentum in the regulation of ovarian cancer metastatic growth, it remains a poorly understood organ. Due to its anatomic location and structural fragility, the omentum presents inherent challenges to mechanism-based in vivo studies. Thus, the availability of an ex vivo omental model would, in part, address some of these difficulties posed. Here we describe a technique for identifying, isolating and maintaining ex vivo cultures of omenta from immune-compromised and -competent mice. Ex vivo culture conditions were developed that maintain tissue viability, architecture, and function for up to 10 days. Further experiments demonstrate that the ex vivo culture conditions allow for the proliferation of ovarian cancer cells in vitro and support a similar pattern of microscopic lesions after either intraperitoneal injection of ovarian cancer cells or co-culture of ovarian cancer cells with the omentum. In agreement with previous studies from our laboratory, histologic evaluation of these specimens found that ovarian cancer cells, as well as other peritoneal cancer cells, preferentially accumulate in, and colonize, omental areas rich in immune cells. We now recognize that these are specific, functional structures referred to as milky spots. In sum, these are foundational studies of a readily accessible model, which is easily manipulated and can be immediately used to study the dynamic process of omental colonization. It is hoped that investigators will use the data herein as a starting point for refinements and modifications which will enable them to tailor the model to the specific needs of the experimental question(s) they wish to pursue.

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Abbreviations

H&E:

Hematoxylin and eosin

PBS:

Phosphate buffered saline

CO2 :

Carbon dioxide

FCS:

Fetal calf serum

GFP:

Green fluorescent protein

ITS:

Insulin transferrin and selenium solution

dpi:

Days post injection

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Ms. Jennifer Taylor for her support and assistance in the conducting the intraperitoneal injections and for generously providing the SKOV3ip.1-GFP tagged cells for use in this study. We appreciate the supportive and enthusiastic input of Dr. Karl Matlin and Dr. Jerry Turner of the University of Chicago as we developed work reported herein. We appreciate the superb technical support and assistance of Dr. Lynnette Gerhold of the University of Chicago Optical Imaging Core Facility and Ms. Shirley Bond of the University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division Microscopy Core Facility. This work was made possible by the generous philanthropic support of The University of Chicago Section of Urology and grants from The Department of Defense Ovarian Cancer Research Program (W81XWH-09-0127) and the National Cancer Institute (2R01CA089569-06A2).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Section of Urology MC6038, The University of Chicago, 5841 S. Maryland Ave., Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Shaheena M. Khan, Sophie Thiolloy & Carrie W. Rinker-Schaeffer

  2. Department of Pathology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Shaheena M. Khan & Carrie W. Rinker-Schaeffer

  3. Department of Cancer and Cell Biology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Holly M. Funk & Angela F. Drew

  4. Department of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Tamara L. Lotan

  5. Abbot Laboratories, Abbot Park, IL, USA

    Jonathan Hickson

  6. Department of Urology, The University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Gail S. Prins

  7. Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Carrie W. Rinker-Schaeffer

Authors
  1. Shaheena M. Khan
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  2. Holly M. Funk
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  3. Sophie Thiolloy
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  4. Tamara L. Lotan
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  5. Jonathan Hickson
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  6. Gail S. Prins
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  7. Angela F. Drew
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  8. Carrie W. Rinker-Schaeffer
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Correspondence to Carrie W. Rinker-Schaeffer.

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Khan, S.M., Funk, H.M., Thiolloy, S. et al. In vitro metastatic colonization of human ovarian cancer cells to the omentum. Clin Exp Metastasis 27, 185–196 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10585-010-9317-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10585-010-9317-0

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