Self-assembled primary tumor clusters for precision cancer therapy

Several patient-derived tumor models emerged recently as robust preclinical models. However, their potential to guide clinical therapy remained unclear. We report a novel model for personalized drug testing called patient-derived tumor-like cell clusters (PTC) that enabled us to accomplish personalized drug tests within 10-20 days. Mechanistically, PTCs result from the migration and aggregation of CD8+/CD44+ primary epithelial cells in a mixture of fibroblasts and macrophages, and form spheroid cultures. Phenotypic and genotypic profiling of PTCs showed a high degree of similarity with the original patient tumors, indicating that PTC structurally and functionally recapitulated original tumors. Over 200 PTC models have been established from at least six cancer types and diverse sampling approaches. Given its seamless integration with current clinical sampling approaches, the PTC platform will revolutionize chemotherapy programs for cancer patients.