Human colon carcinoma cell line model

Borchardt. Characterization of the human colon carcinoma cell line (Caco-2) as a model system for intestinal epithelial permeability, Gastroenterology 1989, 96, 736—749... 

Hidalgo IJ, Raub TJ, and Borchardt RT. Characterization of Human Colon Carcinoma Cell Line (Caco-2) as a Model System for Intestinal Epithelial Permeability. Gastroenterology 1989 96 736-749. 

Rousset M. The human colon carcinoma cell lines ElT-29 and Caco-2 two in vitro models for the study of intestinal differentiation. Biochimie 1986 Sep 68(9) 1035-1040. 

The most common application of BLI in cancer research is the use of stably transfected, luciferase expressing mmor cell lines where the luciferase signal is used as a measure of tumor burden and metastasis (55). The first example of this approach used the human cervical carcinoma cell line, HeLa (56,57). HeLa cells labeled with luciferase were injected into severe combined immunodeficient mice via the tail vein, and cells were immediately apparent in the lung. This model has since been used to examine lung colonization by several tumor cell lines. These, and now many other studies, have demonstrated that luciferase expression correlates with tumor burden through the use of many ex vivo assays and through the use of other imaging modalities (25,56,57). 

The Caco-2 cell line was isolated from a human colon carcinoma, and has been characterized as one of the best in vitro models of intestinal epithelium. Indeed, in contrast to other intestinal cell lines, Caco-2 cells are able to constitute a homogenous monolayer and to spontaneously differentiate into polarized cells, highly similar to human mature enterocytes, after approximately 2 weeks of culture. Furthermore, the Caco-2 cells present microvillosities at the apical side and have a high transmembrane resistivity, which confirms the fact that the cells are confluent and link to one another via gap junctions. Finally, they can absorb different compounds, express many enzymes involved in intestinal metabolic pathways (Pinto et al. 1983, Musto et al. 1995, Salvini et al. 2002), and give reproducible in vitro results consistent with results obtained in in vivo studies (Artursson and Karlsson 1991). 

The most widely used ceU line in drug transport studies is the Caco-2 cell line. This is an iimnortal ceU line derived from human colon carcinoma that can be grown to monolayer on porous support. Functionally, this cell line models the colon more than the small intestine. The Caco-2 model allows characterization of both mucosal-to-serosal and serosal-to-mucosal transport and can also be used to study transcellular and paracellular transport, hi addition to expressing small intestinal brush border enzymes, Caco-2 cells also express Phase I and Phase II enzymes and can be used to evaluate metabohsm of compounds during transport across the intestinal barrier. ... 

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