Preclinical models

Disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) are rare metastatic progenitor cells that can be found in distant organs of cancer patients. Due to their immense importance in the development of systemic cancers and despite their low frequency, we have developed and carefully characterized preclinical models of various tumor types and organs from these cells. These rare models offer a unique opportunity to identify novel biomarkers and targets for early-stage systemic cancer treatment and to test adjuvant treatment strategies on relevant metastasis-triggering cells.

Circulating tumor cells (CTC) are rare cells found in the bloodstream that are thought to represent various metastatic colonies in cancer patients. This is the reason why they are target cells of systemic cancer therapies.

At Fraunhofer ITEM in Regensburg, we have established and characterized a large number of preclinical CTC models from liquid biopsies. They are a useful tool for establishing diagnostic or molecular analysis workflows or for testing the efficacy of drugs or their combinations in relevant target cells.

Grafik; BU: The isolating of circulating tumor cells (CTC) from blood and disseminated tumor cells (DTC) from tissues such as bone marrow or lymph nodes serves the researchers as a starting point for project-specific innovative preclinical cell models.

Healthy cells of the body actively communicate with tumor cells and can thereby significantly influence the growth, metastasis, and even the therapy response of a patient. Novel therapies, such as cancer immunotherapies, often influence these interactions in order to eliminate cancer cells. Using our methods, we are able to investigate these corresponding mechanisms and test intervention therapies directly on patient material.

To do this, we use various clinical samples both from solid tumors and malignant effusions (fluid accumulations from cancer, immune and connective tissue cells as an inflammatory response to a tumor in adjacent body cavities) as well as from metastatic organs such as lymph nodes and bone marrow. What is important is that the cells of the patient’s microenvironment remain contained and thus optimally represent the disease situation. In such cases, our flexible assays make not only drug testing with high-throughput confocal microscopy possible but also the investigation of complex mechanisms of cancer using multiplex flow cytometry, cytokine determination, live cell microscopy, or sequencing.