Transcription profiling by array of NCI-H1299 parental and spheroid cells

Current approaches to the preclinical investigation for novel cancer therapies rely heavily on the use of traditional cancer cell lines maintained in serum-containing conditions. The discrepancy between promising preclinical efficacy and clinical outcome of most novel anticancer agents emphasizes a need for developing predictive preclinical models that preserve the integrity of original patient tumors, including cancer stem cell (CSC) compartment. In this study, we isolate and characterize CSCs from a non-small cell lung cancer cell line, NCI-H1299, by selectively propagating the cells in a stem-cell culture condition. Isolated CSCs proliferated as nonadherent spheroids, displayed capacity to differentiate and self-renew and exhibited higher tumorigenic potential compared to the parental cells. The gene expression profiles of NCI-H1299 parental cells (serum-containing medium), CSCs (stem-cell medium), and xenograft tumor derived from both cell types were studied by Affymetrix array analysis