Development and Application of Patient-Derived Models of Cancer

Participants are planned to undergo a procedure, such as a biopsy or surgery, as part of routine care. After enough tissue to complete all routine tests required for the participants' care are provided, if the participant decides to take part in this study, any leftover biopsy or surgically obtained tissue/fluid, and blood specimens will be sent to the Certis laboratory for testing. It will be required to provide details regarding the participants' biopsy, such as the date, location, and contact information for the study team performing the procedure. The oncologist will assist with this, and once confirmed, a kit will be sent to the location of the procedure to transport the specimen back to the Certis laboratory in San Diego, California. The process of developing an individualized PDX (Patient Derived Xenograft) model is a 2-step process. The first is Initiation, where the biopsy is surgically implanted into 2-5 specialized research mice, depending on the size and quality of biopsy received, to allow it to grow. This identifies if the participants' tumor is suitable for growing in mice, as well as generating enough tumor material to conduct large studies on. This takes approximately 3-4 months. The next step is Pharmacology. Here, selected tumors from the initial 5 mice are removed, dissected, and implanted into a larger number of mice, approximately 50. These mice are then divided into groups of 5, and each group is given a different anti-cancer therapy. Certis will work closely with the oncologist to select the therapies to test. The mice are treated for a period of 4 weeks, and the tumors are measured weekly to determine which therapies are better at treating the participants tumor in mice. The oncologist will be updated upon pre-specified study milestones.