DETROIT ? Tissue bank company Asterand has rolled out a cell line that offers researchers an important tool in the study of breast cancer.

The cell line, known as MCF10DCIS.com, will be valuable for the testing of chemopreventive agents and for screening cancer causing agents, in addition to screening anticancer drugs.

“MCF10DCIS.com is one of a set of panel of MCF10 cell lines that were

derived from normal mammary cells from a single patient that became

spontaneously immortalized,” says Asterand’s Chief Scientific officer James Eliason. “This makes the MCF10DCIS.com cell line particularly

valuable for genetic analysis of breast cancer. The line is particularly interesting for study because it represents a form of breast cancer known as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), which has become increasingly common in recent years, accounting for approximately 25-30 percent of newly diagnosed cases

of breast cancer.”

The line reproduces the comedo form of DCIS, which accounts for about 40 percent of cases. Patients diagnosed with this type of DCIS have a higher likelihood of reoccurrence and a worse prognosis.

“MCF10DCIS.com is an important addition to our growing portfolio of

immortalized cell lines that Asterand can offer to the research community,” Eliason said. They include other cell lines for breast cancer known as the SUM lines, as well as cell lines for leukemia, pancreatic cancer, macroglobulinemia and prostate cancer.

The cell line is being made available to commercial and academic

researchers under an exclusive license from the Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State University.

“Our mission is to assist the drug discovery industry develop new

therapeutics at less cost and get them into the Phase 1 clinical trials

with the best possible chance of success,” says Asterand CEO Randal

Charlton. “We offer services at the critical Phase ZERO, or

pre-clinical drug development in human tissues.”

The company maintains research laboratories in Detroit, Michigan and

Royston, England from where it offers the drug discovery industry a

comprehensive tissue bank, cell lines plus a broad range of tissue based research services.

For more information, click on Asterand.Com