BioIVT, a provider of research models and services for drug development, has added a dissociated tumour cell (DTC) product line to its immunology portfolio.
“DTCs are patient-derived primary tumor cells isolated from fresh tumor tissue using only mechanical and enzymatic dissociation. As a result of this minimal manipulation, DTCs most closely resemble the tumour and are extremely valuable tools for oncology research,” said BioIVT Senior Director, Biological Operations Wini Luty, MS.
“Since BioIVT acquired Asterand Bioscience in August 2017, we have gained greater access to disease-state tissue. As a result, we are now able to provide more tissue product derivatives, such as DTCs, to meet our clients’ specific research needs.”
Researchers can use patient-derived DTCs to determine how specific cohorts of cancer cells will react to different drug therapies. DTCs provide the closest representation of the clinical scenario.
While no two patients’ tumours are identical, there is a greater likelihood of a therapy being effective if it has been previously tested on DTCs from patients with similar donor demographics and health issues. In this way, DTCs can help to advance personalised medicine.
DTCs can also be incorporated into 3D micro-tumour arrays to provide highly efficient, high-throughput drug screening and chemosensitivity testing.
BioIVT is initially providing DTC lots from kidney, ovarian, liver, breast, colon and lung tumours. Clients can also request matched sets of DTCs with peripheral blood mononuclear cells, normal tumour-adjacent tissue or tumour tissue.
As offering high-quality products is a BioIVT top priority, a pathologist reviews each tumour sample at collection to confirm that it is the correct tissue and organ site and that the diagnosis matches the clinical data.
BioIVT quality control processes also ensure that all the cell lots are sterile and pathogen-free. In addition, a small portion of cells from each lot are thawed and grown to confluency in cell culture to ensure that they are viable and will grow as expected by the client. All such information is detailed on the Certificate of Analysis accompanying the cell lot.
