UBC CPD eLearning

The primary goal of cancer research is to better understand tumorigenesis and cancer progression. However, the complex nature of tumors has posed a substantial challenge to unlocking cancer's secrets. The contribution of newly developed therapeutics to improved patient survival has been limited, despite significant time, money, and effort has been expended over the last half century.

Monocellular layers of tumors cultivated in vitro and mouse xenografts derived from those cells have been the standard toolkit for cancer biologists for decades. Unfortunately, continuous passage and culture of cells in vitro allows the least differentiated cells to thrive, resulting in distinct and irreversible losses of important biologic properties introduced by tumor resident cell populations, such as supporting non-tumor stroma, hematopoietic cells and other tumor microenvironmental factors. Based on this situation, mouse xenografts of human tumor cell lines have had poor predictive power in the translation of cancer therapeutics into clinical settings.

To better preserve the genomic integrity and tumor heterogeneity observed in patients, patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models were generated using freshly resected patient tumors immediately transplanted into immunocompromised murine hosts without an intermediate in vitro culture step. Creative Bioarray focuses on anti-tumor drug research and development services to help customers assess the efficacy of compounds and study the associated pathological mechanisms.

Advantages

• High engraftment rate
• Increased clinical relevance compared to CDX models
• Reconstitution of relevant tumor microenvironment
• Site specific study for anti-tumor treatment
• Assess of tumor-stromal interactions