Ex vivo culture of cells derived from circulating tumour cell xenograft to support small cell lung cancer research and experimental therapeutics.

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive disease with median survival of < 2 years. Tumour biopsies for research are scarce, especially from extensive-stage patients, with repeat sampling at disease progression rarely performed. We overcame this limitation for relevant preclinical models by developing SCLC circulating tumour cell derived explants (CDX) which mimic the donor tumour pathology and chemotherapy response. To facilitate compound screening and identification of clinically relevant biomarkers, we developed short term ex vivo cultures of CDX tumour cells.