Preclinical efficacy testing for stomach and liver cancers

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Pharmacology
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Hollow fiber assays provide an early in vivo method for anticancer drug screening.
• Existing assays are optimized for lung, breast, colon, ovarian, and brain cancers, but not for stomach and liver cancers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To optimize hollow fiber assays for gastric and hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines.
• To compare the efficacy of anticancer drugs in hollow fiber assays versus traditional xenograft models.

Main Methods:

• Gastric and hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines were cultured in hollow fibers and transplanted into mice.
• Mice were treated with paclitaxel, and drug activity was assessed in both hollow fiber and xenograft models.
• Novel compounds EW7197 and flavopiridol were tested in optimized conditions.

Main Results:

• Optimized hollow fiber assays demonstrated efficacy for paclitaxel in specific gastric (SNU-16, SNU-484) and hepatocellular (HepG2, SK-Hep-1) carcinoma cell lines.
• Results correlated well with xenograft model outcomes, showing tumor regression or response.
• The assays showed no efficacy for paclitaxel in SNU-668 gastric and Hep3B hepatocellular cell lines.

Conclusions:

• Developed protocols may facilitate the screening of small molecules for stomach and liver cancer treatment.
• The optimized hollow fiber assay serves as a reliable predictor of in vivo drug activity for these cancer types.