In vivo tumor growth of high-grade serous ovarian cancer cell lines

• Eleven human cell models of high-grade serous ovarian cancer were tested in vivo tumor formation.
• OVCAR3, OVCAR5, and OVCAR8 were the most aggressive and OVCAR8 formed ascites.
• All six models formed peritoneal disease mimicking human cancer expressing p53, Pax8, and WT1.

ObjectiveGenomic studies of ovarian cancer (OC) cell lines frequently used in research revealed that these cells do not fully represent high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC), the most common OC histologic type. However, OC lines that appear to genomically resemble HGSOC have not been extensively used and their growth characteristics in murine xenografts are essentially unknown.MethodsTo better understand growth patterns and characteristics of HGSOC cell lines in vivo, CAOV3, COV362, KURAMOCHI, NIH–OVCAR3, OVCAR4, OVCAR5, OVCAR8, OVSAHO, OVKATE, SNU119 and UWB1.289 cells were assessed for tumor formation in nude mice. Cells were injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) or subcutaneously (s.c.) in female athymic nude mice and allowed to grow (maximum of 90 days) and tumor formation was analyzed. All tumors were sectioned and assessed using H&E staining and immunohistochemistry for p53, PAX8 and WT1 expression.ResultsSix lines (OVCAR3, OVCAR4, OVCAR5, OVCAR8, CAOV3, and OVSAHO) formed i.p xenografts with HGSOC histology. OVKATE and COV362 formed s.c. tumors only. Rapid tumor formation was observed for OVCAR3, OVCAR5 and OVCAR8, but only OVCAR8 reliably formed ascites. Tumors derived from OVCAR3, OVCAR4, and OVKATE displayed papillary features. Of the 11 lines examined, three (Kuramochi, SNU119 and UWB1.289) were non-tumorigenic.ConclusionsOur findings help further define which HGSOC cell models reliably generate tumors and/or ascites, critical information for preclinical drug development, validating in vitro findings, imaging and prevention studies by the OC research community.