Human Cervical Keratinocyte-Derived Monolayer and Organoid Cultures for Disease Modelling and Drug Screening

Abstract

The successful isolation and propagation of patient-derived keratinocytes from cervical lesions constitute a more appropriate model of cervical disease than traditional cervical cancer-derived cell lines such as SiHa and CaSki. Our aim was to streamline the growth of patient-obtained, cervical keratinocytes into a reproducible process. We performed an observational case series study with 60 women referred to colposcopy for a diagnostic biopsy. Main outcome measures were how many samples could be passaged at least once, and where enough cells could be established, to precisely define their proliferation profile over time. Altering cell culture conditions over those reported by other groups markedly improved outcomes. We were also successful in making freeze backs which could be resuscitated for additional experiments. For best results, biopsy-intrinsic factors such as size and tissue digestion appear to be major variables. This seems to be the first systematic report with a well characterized and defined sample size, detailed protocol, carefully assessed cell yield and performance, and to successfully grow multi-layered, organoid cultures from cervical keratinocytes. This research is particularly impactful for constituting a sample repository-on-demand for appropriate disease modelling and drug screening under the umbrella of personalized health.