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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2023.01.03.522589

Epithelioids: Self-sustaining 3D epithelial cultures to study long-term processes

Herms, A.·Fernandez-Antoran, D.·Alcolea, M.·Kalogeropoulou, A.·Banerjee, U.·Piedrafita, G.·Abby, E.·Valverde-Lopez, J. A.·Ferreira, I. S.·Dentro, S.·Ong, S. H.·Colom, B.·Murai, K.·King, C.·Mahbubani, K. T.·Saeb-Parsy, K.·Lowe, A. R.·Gerstung, M.·Jones, P. H.
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Abstract

Studying long-term biological processes such as the colonization of aging epithelia by somatic mutant clones has been slowed by the lack of suitable culture systems. Here we describe epithelioids, a facile, cost-effective method of culturing multiple mouse and human epithelia. Esophageal epithelioids self-maintain without passaging for at least a year, recapitulating the 3D structure, cell dynamics, transcriptome, and genomic stability of the esophagus. Live imaging over 5 months showed epithelioids replicate in vivo cell dynamics. Epithelioids enable the study of cell competition and mutant selection in 3D epithelia, and how anti-cancer treatments modulate the competition between transformed and wild type cells. Epithelioids are a novel method with a wide range of applications in epithelial tissues, particularly the study of long term processes, that cannot be accessed using other culture models.

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Herms, A., Fernandez-Antoran, D., Alcolea, M., Kalogeropoulou, A., Banerjee, U., Piedrafita, G., Abby, E., Valverde-Lopez, J. A., Ferreira, I. S., Dentro, S., Ong, S. H., Colom, B., Murai, K., King, C., Mahbubani, K. T., Saeb-Parsy, K., Lowe, A. R., Gerstung, M., Jones, P. H.. 2023-01-03. Epithelioids: Self-sustaining 3D epithelial cultures to study long-term processes. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.01.03.522589

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