Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

A patient-derived cancer model and histological tool was developed in order to identify the response of a patients' tumor to standard therapies. This patient-specific predictive measure of response is obtained weeks prior to initial clinical treatment and can help limit the administration of useless treatments to a patient. Our goal was to develop an histological tool that allows us to visualize the effect of the therapeutic agents on cancer cells located within the patients' tumor as well as having the potential to analyze multiple treatments at the same time. Using this tool, we show that the microdissection of the tumor specimen allows the cellular integrity and viability to be preserved and maintained for up to 15 days. In addition, we show, through the presence or absence of specific antibodies, that the cells within the tumor are dieing when exposed to chemotherapies demonstrating the ability to follow the effect of therapeutic agents on 3D tumor models. By using this model, we can determine the patients treatment response profile with a delay of 5 days after surgery, perfect timing for clinical decision-making.