What's a good animal/human model for cancer?

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Par425
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Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2016 2:32 pm
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What's a good animal/human model for cancer?

Post by Par425 »

We have some kids here who want to study cancer in living organisms, but they don't know how to do that, within ISEF-style rules and reasonable costs.
What are some good, ISEF-compatible models for researching cancer?
Let's say I have a chemical, and I want to see if it causes cancer. What organisms or cells do students usually use for this? Someone somewhere said "protists". Are there human cell lines for sale? Which such organisms/cell lines are known for being susceptible to cancer? If I'm growing human cells, versus studying full humans, is my IRB typically going to allow or not allow that? (And more broadly, can we study human cell lines at home, or must it be in a level 1 lab?)
pswiatko
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Re: What's a good animal/human model for cancer?

Post by pswiatko »

Hi Par425,

I would discourage the use of animals in this situation, unless you can clearly describe the goals of your study. You can; however, purchase many human cell lines. They are relatively easy to use and work with. You will need access to a laboratory though.

Peter S.
jcschrandt
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Re: What's a good animal/human model for cancer?

Post by jcschrandt »

Human cell lines used for this kind of research are usually cancerous, meaning they were derived from tumors. Therefore, they're not predisposed to get cancer, they already have cancer. There are also cell lines that are not derived from tumors and are generally more expensive, and sometimes they're immortalized to divide indefinitely, which is similar to a cancer line. However, maintaining cell lines requires a lot of special equipment. First, a liquid nitrogen tank is used to store back-up vials of cells. You also need a tissue culture hood in order to prevent contamination of cells. Cell cultures are very susceptible to bacterial contamination.

Another way to approach cancer studies would be to consider whether a chemical or drug increases the rate of genetic mutations. For this kind of study you can use bacteria, like E. coli. You won't need the special equipment that I mentioned, but you will need some 70% ethanol or isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) to disinfect gloves and countertop. You can culture bacteria on dishes with a gradient of antibiotic. With each new generation of bacteria, genetic mutations will occur. If the mutation allows the bacteria to grow in antibiotic, then you will see wider dispersal of the bacteria. As the concentration of the antibiotic increases, more genetic mutations will have occurred. Genetic mutations are a hallmark of cancer. Most tumors have multiple mutations that have given them unrestricted cell growth and eventually the ability to metastasize and produce tumors in foreign tissues. Therefore, measuring whether a chemical or drug can increase antibiotic resistance can be used as a surrogate for measuring susceptibility to genetic mutations and therefore cancer.

I hope this helps!
Jen
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