Establishment and characterization of VOA1066 cells: An undifferentiated endometrial carcinoma cell line

Dedifferentiated endometrial carcinoma (DDEC) is a rare but highly aggressive type of endometrial cancer, in which an undifferentiated carcinoma arises from a low-grade endometrioid endometrial carcinoma. The low-grade component is often eclipsed, likely due to an outgrowth of the undifferentiated component, and the tumor may appear as a pure undifferentiated endometrial carcinoma (UEC). We and others have recently identified inactivating mutations of SMARCA4, SMARCB1 or ARID1B, subunits of the SWI/SNF chromatin-remodeling complex, that are unique to the undifferentiated component and are present in a large portion of DDEC and UEC. However, the understanding of whether and how these mutations drive cancer progression and histologic dedifferentiation is hindered by lack of cell line models of DDEC or UEC. Here, we established the first UEC cell line, VOA1066, which is highly tumorigenic in vivo. This cell line has a stable genome with very few somatic mutations, which do include inactivating mutations of ARID1A and ARID1B (2 mutations each), and a heterozygous hotspot DICER1 mutation in its RNase IIIb domain. Immunohistochemistry staining confirmed the loss of ARID1B, but ARID1A staining was retained due to the presence of a truncating non-functional ARID1A protein. The heterozygous DICER1 hotspot mutation has little effect on microRNA biogenesis. No additional DICER1 hotspot mutations have been identified in a cohort of 33 primary tumors. Therefore, we have established the first UEC cell line with dual inactivation of both ARID1A and ARID1B as the main genomic feature. This cell line will be useful for studying the roles of ARID1A and ARID1B mutations in the development of UEC.