Objective To establish a patient-derived tumor xenograft (PDTX) model and to observe the latency and rate of tumor formation, tumor size, tumor invasion and metastasis of transplanted tumors. Methods Seven patients with chest tumor in Drum Tower Hospital from April to December 2015 were chosen. There were 5 males and 2 females with age ranging from 61-71 years, including 4 patients of esophageal tumor and 3 patients of lung tumor. PDTX model was established by surgical removal of fresh tumor tissues of these patients and transplantation in NOD-Prkdcem26Il2rgem26Nju subcutaneous (NCG) mice. The latency and rate of tumor formation, tumor size, tumor invasion and metastasis of transplanted tumors were observed, and pathology of HE staining and immunohistochemical testing results were compared between PDTX model and the patients. Results PDTX model was successfully established in 4 patients, and the success rate was 66.7%, including 2 patients of esophageal cancer. The PDTX model retained the differentiation, morphological and structural characteristics of original tumors. Conclusion Pathology and molecular biology characteristics of PDTX model are consistent with the original tumor, which can be an " avatar” of tumor patients for clinical pharmacodynamics screening and new drug research and development.
ObjectiveTo optimize the culture method of human primary pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells and cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and investigate the effect of CAFs on the growth of primary PDAC cells in vitro and tumor formation in patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model.MethodsThe PDAC specimens were collected and primarily cultured. In order to observe the effect of CAFs on the growth of primary PDAC cells in vitro, the CAFs were co-cultured with primary PDAC cells consistently and the alone cultured primary PDAC cells served as the control. Then, these cells were injected into the shoulder blades of NOG mice in order to develop the PDX model.ResultsWhen the primary PDAC cells separated from the CAFs, the proliferation capacity of the primary PDAC decreased rapidly in the passage culture in vitro, and the most cells were terminated within 5 generations. By contrast, when the CAFs co-cultured with the primary PDAC cells, the proliferation capacity of primary PDAC cells were preserved, which could be stably transferred to at least 10 generations. The tumors of NOG mice were detected during 2–3 weeks after injecting the mixed cells (primary PDAC plus CAFs), while had no tumor formation after injecting CAFs alone. The rate of tumor was 92.9% (13 cases) in the primary PDAC plus CAFs group, which was higher than that of the CAFs alone group (64.3%, 9 cases), but there was no statistical difference because of the small sample size. The volume of tumor in the primary PDAC plus CAFs group at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks after the tumor cells injection was significantly larger than that in the CAFs alone group at the corresponding time point, the differences were statistically significant (P<0.01).ConclusionsThe CAFs could promote the growth of primary PDAC cells in vitro. This new method of co-culture CAFs with primary PDAC could improve the success rate of primary PDAC cells culture and improve the success rate of PDX model in NOG mice.
Objective To understand the development, research status, advantages and disadvantages of patient-derived organoid (PDO) and patient-derived tumor xenograft (PDX), and to summarize their applications in pancreatic cancer, so as to provide new ideas for the selection of early modeling of pancreatic cancer. Method The recent studies on PDO and PDX of pancreatic cancer at home and abroad were reviewed. Results The PDO and PDX models had a wide range of applications in preclinical research of tumor, especially played an important role in the basic research of present pancreatic cancer patients with poor clinical treatment effects, such as the pathogenesis research of pancreatic cancer, developing new targets and new drugs, testing preclinical drug toxicity and effectiveness. Conclusion PDO and PDX, as classical tumor research model, have broad clinical application prospects in the research of pancreatic cancer.