Characterization of ascites-derived tumor cells from an endometrial cancer patient

Improved treatment outcomes for the endometrial cancer patient requires precision methods to investigate the biology of this disease and clinically relevant models to test treatment drugs. Hence, we applied a personalized platform to investigate whether in vitro and in vivo models could accurately predict effective treatment regimens. We successfully expanded ascites-derived tumor cells from an endometrial cancer patient with malignant ascites using ascites collected prior to chemotherapy treatment. Hematoxylin-eosin and immunohistochemistry staining of ascites-derived tumor cells confirmed the source of endometrial cancer cells. Ascites-derived tumor cells were sensitive to cisplatin and doxorubicin single-agent treatments in CCK-8 assay and 3-D culture, a condition that more closely mimics the in vivo environment. We further showed that ascites-derived tumor cells from this patient could form tumors in NOD/SCID mice with preserved morphological characteristics. A remarkable concordance between the clinical response of cisplatin and the results of in vitro and in vivo drug tests reflected the reliability of our personalized approach in this case. Together, our results indicated that an effective platform for ex vivo and in vivo culture of ascites-derived tumor cells from our endometrial cancer patient could be applied to identify treatment options, and may be commonly used in treating cancer patients with malignant ascites in the future.