SNU-C1 Cells

The SNU-C1 cell line is a human colorectal carcinoma model established from the ascitic fluid of a Korean adult patient. It originates from a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma of the colon and represents one of a group of SNU-series cell lines derived from colorectal cancer patients. SNU-C1 has been used in numerous studies focused on gastrointestinal cancer biology and pharmacogenomics due to its molecular features and relatively stable growth characteristics under in vitro conditions.

Genomically, SNU-C1 is characterized by microsatellite instability (MSI), a phenotype frequently observed in a subset of colorectal cancers due to defects in the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) system. This MSI status has significant implications for drug sensitivity and genomic instability. Despite harboring multiple genetic alterations common to colorectal carcinoma, including mutations in key pathways such as WNT and p53, SNU-C1 shows distinct proteomic and transcriptomic profiles that make it suitable for molecular subtype classification and high-throughput drug response profiling. It has been included in large-scale datasets such as the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE), where proteomic quantification confirms expression patterns consistent with epithelial origin and MSI phenotype. These attributes make SNU-C1 a valuable resource for studying therapeutic responses in MSI-high colorectal cancers and for understanding the molecular diversity within colorectal tumors.