US-based precision medicine company Predictive Oncology, in collaboration with Switzerland-based Tecan, has unveiled positive results from a study on tumour models.
Tecan is a laboratory automation company and an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) developing and manufacturing instruments, components and medical devices.
The Predictive Oncology-Tecan collaboration aims to expand high-throughput drug screening to include human tumour spheroids using automated imaging and 3D analysis.
Their study used Predictive Oncology’s extensive biobank of cryopreserved live cell tumour specimens for the production and testing of primary patient tumour spheroids.
Predictive Oncology medical director and translational medicine and drug discovery senior vice president Arlette Uihlein said: “The capability to obtain a tumour specimen and monitor its growth and drug response as it transitions from a 2D cell culture to cryopreservation and then to a 3D cell culture significantly enhances the relevance and availability of our samples for high-throughput drug discovery, personalised medicine, and biomarker discovery.
“The breast, colon and ovary samples used to generate primary patient spheroids were selected from the Predictive Oncology biobank.
“All samples were chosen based on known drug response data indicating responsiveness to the clinically relevant compounds used in this study.”
According to Predictive Oncology, patient-derived tumour models (PDTMs), such as patient-derived tumour spheroids (PDTS), are used in developing personalised therapies for cancer.
The models offer a more physiologically relevant system, preserving the morphology, cellular complexity, and microenvironment of corresponding tissues.
Limited accessibility and scalability of primary tumour cells present a major obstacle to the use of PDTS in research and drug development.
The challenge is mitigated by the usage of cryopreserved dissociated tumour cells (DTCs), a scalable resource for experiments with viable primary tumour material.
The partners established optimised growth conditions and drug treatment protocols for tumour models derived from cryopreserved DTCs of different cancer types.
In the study, the 3D models are found closer to in-vivo physiological conditions compared to 2D models and observed differences in response to drug dosing.
Furthermore, the growing adoption of 3D cell cultures and organoids for screening enhanced the predictive power of high throughput screening (HTS) assays.
Tecan Austria application scientist Eric Lutsch said: “This process requires precise monitoring and characterisation, including multiple imaging techniques and viability assessments to evaluate tumour growth and drug response.
“The studies presented in this poster summarise recent developments in the use of the POAI biobank for optimising the use of DTCs, by multiplexing label-free artificial intelligence-based automated analysis of tumour spheroids over time with real-time drug dose-response
“The spheroids were evaluated using the Tecan SparkCyto instrument and 3DAI software capabilities.”
