Modeling breast cancer by grafting patient tumor samples in the avian embryo: an in vivo platform for therapy evaluation coupled to large scale molecular analyses

Abstract

Lack of preclinical patient-derived xenograft (PDX) cancer models in which to conduct large scale molecular studies seriously impairs the development of effective personalized therapies. We report here on an in vivo concept consisting of implanting human tumor cells in targeted tissues of an avian embryo, delivering therapeutics, evaluating their efficacy by measuring tumors using light sheet confocal microscopy, and conducting large scale RNAseq analysis to characterize therapeutic-induced changes in gene expression. The model was established to recapitulate triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and validated using TNBC standards of care (SOCs) and an investigational therapeutic agent.