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Updated: May 21, 2026

In vitro Organoid Culture of Primary Mouse Colon Tumors
Published on: May 17, 2013
The TNF family member APRIL promotes colorectal tumorigenesis
V Lascano1, L F Zabalegui, K Cameron
1LEXOR (Lab of Experimental Oncology and Radiobiology), Center for Experimental Molecular Medicine, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1105AZ, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
The tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family member APRIL (A proliferation inducing ligand) is a disease promoter in B-cell malignancies. APRIL has also been associated with a wide range of solid malignancies, including colorectal cancer (CRC). As evidence for a supportive role of APRIL in solid tumor formation was still lacking, we studied the involvement of APRIL in CRC. We observed that ectopic APRIL expression exacerbates the number and size of adenomas in Apc(Min) mice and in a mouse model for colitis-associated colon carcinogenesis. Furthermore, knockdown of APRIL in primary spheroid cultures of colon cancer cells and both mouse and human CRC cell lines reduced tumor clonogenicity and in vivo outgrowth. Taken together, our data therefore indicate that both tumor-derived APRIL and APRIL produced by non-tumor cells is supportive in colorectal tumorigenesis.
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