Calu-3 is a human

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

cell line An immortalised cell line is a population of cells from a multicellular organism that would normally not proliferate indefinitely but, due to mutation, have evaded normal cellular senescence and instead can keep undergoing division. The cells ...

commonly used in cancer research and drug development. Calu-3 cells are

epithelial Epithelium or epithelial tissue is a thin, continuous, protective layer of cells with little extracellular matrix. An example is the epidermis, the outermost layer of the skin. Epithelial ( mesothelial) tissues line the outer surfaces of man ...

and can act as respiratory models in preclinical applications. Calu-3 cells were first derived in 1975 by Germain Trempe and Jorgen Fogh of the

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in Manhattan in New York City. MSKCC is one of 72 National Cancer Institute– designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. Its main campus is ...

. The cells were isolated from the

pleural effusion A pleural effusion is accumulation of excessive fluid in the pleural space, the potential space that surrounds each lung. Under normal conditions, pleural fluid is secreted by the parietal pleural capillaries at a rate of 0.6 millilitre per kilog ...

of a 25-year-old Caucasian male with a

lung adenocarcinoma Adenocarcinoma of the lung is the most common type of lung cancer, and like other forms of lung cancer, it is characterized by distinct cellular and molecular features. It is classified as one of several non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC), to d ...

The Calu-3 cell line grows as an adherent monolayer and overexpresses the ERBB2 gene, leading to active ErbB2/Her2. The cells also express CK7,

occludin Occludin is a transmembrane protein that regulates the permeability of epithelial and endothelial barriers. It was first identified in epithelial cells as a 65 kDa integral plasma-membrane protein localized at the tight junctions. Together with ...

, and

E-cadherin Cadherin-1 or Epithelial cadherin (E-cadherin), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''CDH1'' gene (not to be confused with the APC/C activator protein CDH1). Mutations are correlated with Hereditary diffuse gastric cancer, gastric, Here ...

. Calu-3 cells also have large amounts of

cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is a membrane protein and anion channel in vertebrates that is encoded by the ''CFTR'' gene. Geneticist Lap-Chee Tsui and his team identified the ''CFTR'' gene in 1989 as the gene lin ...

. Calu-3 cells are commonly used as both ''in vitro'' and ''in vivo'' models for drug development against lung cancer. The cells have been used in studies of

pulmonary The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in many animals, including humans. In mammals and most other tetrapods, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart. Their function in the respiratory syste ...

drug delivery, demonstrating a capacity to intake low molecular weight substances. Calu-3 cells have served as respiratory models for air intake and lung injury due to their responsiveness to foreign substances. The Calu-3 cell line has shown to be useful in the study of

chloride The term chloride refers to a compound or molecule that contains either a chlorine anion (), which is a negatively charged chlorine atom, or a non-charged chlorine atom covalently bonded to the rest of the molecule by a single bond (). The pr ...

ion secretion by lung epithelial cells. The cells may be used in

high-throughput screening High-throughput screening (HTS) is a method for scientific discovery especially used in drug discovery and relevant to the fields of biology, materials science and chemistry. Using robotics, data processing/control software, liquid handling device ...

applications focused on barrier integrity and surface

protein expression Protein expression may refer to: *Gene expression, the processes that convert the information of DNA genes into a functional copies of mRNA in living cells *Protein production Protein production is the biotechnological process of generating a ...

of lung cells.

External links

Cellosaurus entry for Calu-3

References

{{Reflist, 2 Human cell lines 1975 in biotechnology Lung cancer