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Updated: May 10, 2026
Establishing a Physiologic Human Vascularized Micro-Tumor Model for Cancer Research
Published on: September 15, 2023
[Establishment of in vitro co-cultue system for tumor vascular endothelial cells]
Song Lu1, Ting-Ting Chen, Ming-Jiang Bie
1ICU of Sichuan Cancer Hospital, Chengdu 610041, China.
Objective:
To establish a in vitro culture model of tumor vascular endothelial cells (TECs).
Methods:
We established in vitro culture model of TECs, named A549-HUVECs, through the co-culutre system culturing primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and human lung adenocarcinoma epithelial cell line A549 cells in indirect co-cultures, six-well Transwell-clear dishes (0.4 microm porous filter, Costar). We then observed TECs' cell morphology, growth characteristics, proliferation and karyotype, telomerase activity, etc.
Results:
In the indirect co-culture system, A549-HUVECs showed migration cell-type appearance, more active cellular metabolism, increasing cell permeability, augmenting cell proliferation, which indicated A549-HUVECs being in a state of the regulation of homeostasis imbalance for cell proliferation and apoptosis. Besides, the analysis of A549-HUVECs genetic characteristics showed that the chromosome karyotype of A549-HUVECs was sub-triploid, and its telomerase activity increased, phenotypic change occurred, which possessed the similar pathological features of precancerous lesion.
Conclusion:
A549-HUVECs co-culture system could be feasible for tumor vascular research.
