Abstract LB-222: Culturing cancer cells from liquid biopsies for precision cancer therapy

Abstract Liquid biopsies include circulation tumor cells (CTC), ctDNA/RNA, exosomes from blood or tumor relevant information from other liquid samples (urine, pleural effusion, ascites, saliva, etc.). Culturing cancer cells from liquid biopsies is a simple, non-invasive technique that has the potential to advance the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of cancer patients. In this study, we described several approaches that allow to enrich cancer cells from urine (for bladder cancer), blood (for prostate cancer), and pleural effusion (for non-small cell lung carcinoma). These cancer cells from liquid biopsies were cultured and further propagated in suspension and/or adherent cultures using a specialized cell culture medium. We also confirmed genetic alterations in both original tumors and cancer cells from liquid biopsies, for example, mutant EGFR for lung cancer, mutations of hTERT promoter for bladder cancer. We also reported that these cancer cells from liquid biopsies were used for identify therapies for the patients. For example, a woman patient with metastatic NSCLC harboring mutant EGFR was primarily resistant to TKI treatment, we were able to identify a combination of chemotherapy for the patient. Cancer cells from urine samples were used for predicting recurrence of the bladder cancer or monitoring treatment. We also used these cultured cancer from original tumors and liquid biopsies for study of tumor heterogeneity. Citation Format: Xuefeng Liu. Culturing cancer cells from liquid biopsies for precision cancer therapy [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-222.