An Ex Vivo Mini-Tumor Culture Protocol for Evaluating Individualized Efficacy of Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Translational Medicine
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Conventional drug screening models present challenges in guiding personalized cancer treatment due to time constraints, limited drug options, and accuracy issues.
• There is a need for efficient and reliable methods to evaluate individual patient responses to various cancer therapies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a convenient, rapid, and reliable ex vivo drug screening protocol for evaluating individualized chemotherapy and immunotherapy efficacy.
• To assess the utility of a novel mini-tumor culture platform for personalized drug testing in cancer.

Main Methods:

• Established an ex vivo mini-tumor culture platform using tumor fragments in an air-liquid interface system.
• Sustained tumor growth for over 2 weeks and immune cell infiltration for over 1 week.
• Evaluated responses to chemotherapy (gemcitabine, 5-fluorouracil, cisplatin) and immunotherapy (αPD-1, αPD-L1).

Main Results:

• The mini-tumor culture platform successfully maintained tumor viability and immune cell infiltration.
• Demonstrated the platform's capability to assess individualized therapeutic responses to various drugs.
• Revealed distinct immunotherapy responses between immune-cold and immune-hot tumors.
• Showcased the role of resiquimod (R848) in enhancing immunotherapy efficacy.

Conclusions:

• The developed ex vivo mini-tumor culture protocol offers a feasible approach for personalized drug testing in cancer.
• This platform can aid in guiding individualized cancer treatment by providing rapid and reliable efficacy evaluations.
• The findings highlight the potential for ex vivo models in advancing precision oncology.