Self-assembled patient-derived tumor-like cell clusters for personalized drug testing in diverse sarcomas
Several patient-derived tumor models have emerged recently. However, soft tissue sarcomas (STSs) present a challenge in developing preclinical drug-testing models due to their non-epithelial and complex nature. Here, we report a model termed patient-derived tumor-like cell clusters (PTCs) derived from STS patients. PTCs result from the self-assembly and proliferation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), epithelial cells, and immune cells, faithfully recapitulating the morphology and function of the original tumors. Through standardized culture and drug-response assessment protocols, PTCs facilitate personalized drug testing, evaluating hundreds of therapies within two weeks. Notably, PTCs exhibit 100% accuracy in distinguishing between complete or partial response and disease progression. We demonstrate the utility of PTCs in guiding chemotherapy selection for a patient with relapse and metastases following conventional therapy, who exhibited a positive response after non-conventional therapy identified through PTC. These findings underscore the potential of PTCs for prospective use in clinical decision-making regarding therapy selection.
Authors
- Xiongbing Hu
- Shu Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0723-7217)
- Shenyi Yin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2731-5689)
- Zhiwei Fang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6647-8248)
- Hanshuo Zhang
- Jianzhong Xi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3015-8418)
- Ruifeng Xue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1185-3506)
- Jiayong Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5895-8276)
- Yan‐Jie Shi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6283-7808)
- Zhichao Tan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4097-5123)
- Xinyu He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9540-2093)
- Buqing Ye (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3765-8063)
- Jiaxin Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6542-8855)
- Lu Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2373-4678)
- Juan Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8320-2406)
- Junyi Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0464-4543)
- Yanmin Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-2928-9818)
- Yunfei Shi
- Tian Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2142-9124)
- Fang Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6506-9015)
- Yang He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0769-0596)
- Lei Tang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7460-5278)
- Zhengfu Fan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3616-1848)
- Huinan Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3683-2410)
- Wenjun Fu
- Chujie Bai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1072-5219)
- Mengmeng Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0726-6675)
- Xinyu Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7549-2845)
Institutions
- Peking University (CN)
- Peking University Cancer Hospital (CN)
- Annoroad Gene Technology (China) (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Cell Reports Medicine
- Published
- 2025-03-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrm.2025.101990
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Cancer Cells and Metastasis
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 5.23