Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models are mouse avatars. When transplanted from a human patient with cancer into a mouse, tumors retain the characteristics of the original specimen. PDX models allow researchers to test multiple drugs and drug combinations to find the one best suited to the individual patient’s tumor.
Sutter’s California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute is leading an innovative program to further the organization’s cancer precision medicine research in Northern California through the Cancer Avatar Program—a living biology approach to translational research for fully individualized cancer care. Our cancer scientists are working with CPMC oncologists and surgeons to create cell culture and mouse models, or ‘avatars,’ of patients’ tumors, which will give oncologists key information about how well a patient’s tumor might respond to a particular therapy regimen. The Cancer Avatar Program has the potential to enable the delivery of truly personalized cancer care.
The program is focused on eight common and aggressive cancers (brain, colorectal, lung, melanoma, ovarian, pancreatic, breast, liver/biliary). We have developed a comprehensive library of PDX models (and continue to add to our collection) to help identify and predict the most effective treatment(s) for CPMC cancer patients. The program uses next-generation sequencing of patient specimens, including tissue and blood, for the identification of driver genes for diagnostic purposes as well as to monitor tumor burden.
Finally, a key aspect of the program is the use of an in-house high-throughput screening (HTDS) platform to assess the efficacy of single drugs or drug combinations against an individual patient’s tumor. The program is actively focused on developing novel therapeutic clinical trial concepts for clinically or molecularly defined patient subsets with the goal of testing the leads developed preclinically in CPMC cancer patients. To date, a number of investigator-initiated clinical trial concepts have been developed and are being evaluated at CPMC and other collaborating institutions.