Cancer research has made significant progress in recent years in increasing treatment specificity. This is visible when observing the growth of precision medicine, a therapeutic approach that considers each individual’s genotype, lifestyle, and environmental factors to guide treatment options.1
By considering therapy at an individual level, rather than the “all-in-one approach of previous times,”1 scientists can more precisely predict and develop drugs against specific cancer subtypes.
As medicine shifts towards personalized methods, the demand for primary tumor tissue in diagnostic and therapeutic research is growing. Sourcing fresh tissue is costly and logistically difficult2 and slows down research. Dissociated tumor cells (DTCs) present a potential solution to this issue.
This article investigates the role of DTCs and their potential to aid cancer research.2
What are dissociated tumor cells?
DTCs offer a more efficient and simple alternative to fresh tumor tissue.3 DTCs comprise a single-cell suspension derived from primary tumor tissue, maintaining all cell populations inside the tumor microenvironment, including epithelial cells, fibroblasts, and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes.3 This structure maintains the closest-known comparison to the original tumor tissue,4 providing logistical and financial benefits.
Unlike tumor cell lines, which are frequently genetically engineered and are not heterogeneous, DTCs reflect the natural state of in-vitro tumors. Researchers may, therefore, utilize DTCs as a more precise model to develop novel drugs without the costs or complexity of obtaining fresh tissue.
Subtypes of dissociated tumor cells
DTCs are acquired via mechanical, enzymatic, or chemical dissociation approaches, leading to single-cell suspensions that may be cultivated in 2D or 3D cultures.2,3
- 2D cultures: Clonal outgrowths stemming from primary tumors with elevated generation rates (90 %+). They are often utilized for short-term functional analysis and diagnostic use cases owing to their lesser clonal diversity.5
- 3D cultures: Provide a higher representation of the tumor microenvironment’s complexity, making them more appropriate for drug screening due to their heightened heterogeneity.5
How can dissociated tumor cells be used to accelerate cancer research?
DTCs offer a controlled microenvironment that imitates certain tumor subsets, providing considerable benefits for screening and evaluating drugs. Scientists may test cytotoxic compounds against DTCs within controlled conditions, maximizing therapeutic value for certain cancer subtypes.
DTCs permit molecular-level explorations to analyze genomic and proteomic variations between normal and tumor cells.4
DTCs may also be implemented in future drug screening. Patient-derived samples can be utilized to test various drugs, helping to distinguish the most effective therapeutics at the cellular level.4
Applying DTCs to cancer research should facilitate the development and screening of personalized drugs by providing a platform for real-time investigation of tumor changes at the cellular level.
DTCs provide the closest possible model of tumor cell composition, but they can also be utilized to model the heterogeneity and compositional variations between tumor subtypes. By merging different types of DTCs, scientists may explore the changes in interactions between different cells.
As multiple tumor effects are propagated between different cell types inside an extracellular matrix,6 using DTCs in the research workflow may allow the generation of new ECM tissue models.
Dissociated tumor cells and antibody-drug conjugate development
DTCs may additionally be utilized to help the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), therapeutics with emerging potential in precision medicine.7
DCs are targeted cancer therapy that merges cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents with tumor-specific antibodies. By combining these two components, scientists hope to deliver chemotherapeutics to cancer cells directly with high site-specificity.7
DTCs aid the ADC development process in three primary ways:
- Target identification: DTCs help identify antigens for ADC targeting by contrasting protein expression in normal and tumor tissues.
- Target testing: DTCs enable efficacy and cytotoxicity testing, guaranteeing high specificity in ADC design.
- Preclinical model development: DTCs behave as a proof-of-concept for ADCs, offering a framework for testing therapeutic potential.4
DTCs aid the development of preclinical models, including patient-derived xenografts, which maintain the histopathological characteristics of individual tumors for ongoing testing.5
Why labs need dissociated tumor cells
Incorporating DTCs into the research workflow diminishes the time and complexity linked to in-vitro testing. Their heterogeneity and high similarity to the initial tumor composition make DTCs an effective and simple alternative to fresh tumor samples, facilitating drug development while preserving authenticity. Scientists can thereby save time and improve drug development.
BioIVT services
BioIVT isolates and propagates DTCs, acting as a trusted provider for DTCs obtained from renal, ovarian, liver, lung, colon, and breast cancers. BioIVT’s robust quality control process includes reviews by board-certified pathologists to guarantee precise diagnostics and reliable tissue sourcing.
All DTC samples undergo detailed testing for culture viability, cell count, pathogen screening, and contamination, with matched PBMCs and normal adjacent tissue additionally available.
References and further reading
- Goetz, L. H. and Schork, N.J. (2018b) Personalized medicine: motivation, challenges, and progress, Fertility and Sterility, 109(6), pp. 952–963. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2018.05.006.
- BioIVT (2024). BioIVT. [online] Available at: https://bioivt.com/blogs/dissociated-tumor-cells-in-cancer-research.
- BioIVT. [online] Available at: https://bioivt.com/cell-products/dissociated-tumor-cells.
- BioIVT (2024). BioIVT. [online] Available at: https://bioivt.com/blogs/dissociated-tumor-cells-in-cancer-research.
- Meijer, T. G., Naipal, K. A., Jager, A., and van Gent, D. C. (2017). Ex vivo tumor culture systems for functional drug testing and therapy response prediction. Future Science OA, 3(2), FSO190. https://doi.org/10.4155/fsoa-2017-0003
- Henke, E., Nandigama, R. and Ergün, S. (2020) Extracellular matrix in the tumor microenvironment and its impact on cancer therapy, Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmolb.2019.00160.
- Fu, Z. et al. (2022) Antibody drug conjugate: the “biological missile” for targeted cancer therapy, Signal Transduction 3..3and Targeted Therapy, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41392-022-00947-7.
About BioIVT
BioIVT, formerly BioreclamationIVT, is a leading global provider of high-quality biological specimens and value-added services. We specialize in control and disease state samples including human and animal tissues, cell products, blood and other biofluids. Our unmatched portfolio of clinical specimens directly supports precision medicine research and the effort to improve patient outcomes by coupling comprehensive clinical data with donor samples.
Our Research Services team works collaboratively with clients to provide in vitro hepatic modeling solutions. And as the world’s premier supplier of ADME model systems, including hepatocytes and subcellular fractions, BioIVT enables scientists to better understand the pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism of newly discovered compounds and the effects on disease processes. By combining our technical expertise, exceptional customer service, and unparalleled access to biological specimens, BioIVT serves the research community as a trusted partner in ELEVATING SCIENCE®.
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