Patient-derived Tumorgrafts Advancing Breast Cancer Treatment

Highly characterized and extensive repository of over 100 PDX models to revolutionize the preclinical testing of breast cancer therapies by authentically replicating tumor growth and metastasis.

The development of new cancer treatments is hindered by a lack of authentic in vivo models that accurately represent the complexity of tumor growth and metastatic progression in humans.

Researchers at the University of Utah and Huntsman Cancer Institute have pioneered a method of engrafting breast tumors from patients directly into mice, creating a collection of over 100 orthotopic breast tumor grafts. These grafts preserve the original tumors’ characteristics, including histopathology, metastasis sites, clinical markers, and molecular profiles. This innovative approach offers a promising step towards personalized medicine and a deeper understanding of breast cancer’s complexities.

Generating Revenue

• Authentic Modeling: Tumor grafts maintain the diversity and complexity of human breast cancer, ensuring high fidelity in research models.
• Enhances Research: Facilitate in vivo drug efficacy tests and ex vivo studies, improving the predictability of disease progression and treatment responses.
• Prognostic Value: Tumor engraftment serves as a prognostic indicator, offering potential insights into patient outcomes.
• Supports Personalized Medicine: The diversity of the tumorgraft lines covers major clinical and molecular breast cancer subtypes, aiding in personalized treatment planning.
• Public Resource: The bank of tumor grafts is publicly available, providing a valuable resource for the global research community to study breast cancer biology.

DeRose, Y.S., Gligorich, K.M., Wang, G., Georgelas, A., Bowman, P., Courdy, S.J., Welm, A.L., Welm, B.E. (2013). Patient-derived models of human breast cancer: protocols for in vitro and in vivo applications in tumor biology and translational medicine. Current Protocols in Pharmacology. Chapter 14, Unit 14.23. doi:10.1002/0471141755.ph1423s60

DeRose YS, Wang G, Lin YC, et al. Tumor grafts derived from women with breast cancer authentically reflect tumor pathology, growth, metastasis and disease outcomes. Nat Med. 2011;17(11):1514-1520. Published 2011 Oct 23. doi: 10.1038/nm.2454

Models can be found here: https://pdxportal.research.bcm.edu/pdxportal/summary/;jsessionid=9D36yOIWfqFiC0cL6gXFPHb89NhV2f01jBR7BRVn.pdxportal

Lucia Irazabal
lu.irazabal@utah.edu