Colorectal cell lines
Colon cancer, also known as colorectal or large bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the Western world (preceded only by breast and lung cancer by numbers of incidence). We have over 60 cell lines derived from colorectal cancers.
The colorectal cell lines listed are derived from tumours at various levels of differentiation and stages of development. One of the relatively recent additions to the colorectal collection is the human colon cancer cell line, HCA-7 Colony 29, which expresses Cox-2. An interesting feature of this cell line is that it forms polarised epithelial sheets allowing examination of the trafficking and release of biomolecules in vitro.
Cyclooxygenases (COXs) are key enzymes in the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostaglandins and other eicosanoids. It has been found that colonic polyps and cancers overexpress Cox-2 and that the inhibition of this enzyme by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs decreases the risk of colonic neoplasia. The cell line HCA-7 Colony 29 is useful for studying the role of Cox-2 in cancer cell biology and the investigation of colorectal epithelial cell polarity.