title: Ascites-derived pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma primary cell cultures as a platform for personalised medicine.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Challenges in developing drugs for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) include obtaining metastatic cancer tissue for research and validating biomarkers predicative for personalised therapeutic decisions. We have recently developed a novel therapeutic model for PDAC to address these challenges based on the isolation of viable PDAC cells derived from ascites fluid.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ascites fluid was obtained from PDAC patients undergoing palliative paracentesis. Ascites-derived PDAC primary cells were isolated, cultured and characterised in ovo and in vitro.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We successfully established ascites-derived primary cell cultures within 2-7 days from 92% (93 out of 101) of the ascites fluid samples obtained (from 36 different patients). Homogeneous epithelial PDAC-enriched cell cultures were identified and characterised. We observed a wide range in doubling times and migration properties among the different patient-derived cell cultures. The diverse nature of each individual patient's cell cultures was further demonstrated by differences in therapeutic susceptibility and resistance. The tumorigenicity and invasiveness of the cells were demonstrated in vivo using chicken chorioallantoic membrane grafts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have developed a unique ascites-derived PDAC primary cell culture model. This model has the potential to study signalling pathways in PDAC progression and to evaluate targeted therapies for the individual patient expeditiously, thereby supporting personalised treatment decisions.
authors.affiliation: 1] Institute of Oncology, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer 52621, Israel [2] Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Golan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Oncology, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer 52621, Israel.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Atias
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer 52621, Israel.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Barshack
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer 52621, Israel.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Avivi
authors.affiliation: Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel.
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Goldstein
authors.affiliation: 1] Institute of Oncology, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer 52621, Israel [2] Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Berger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001201:Ascites / Q000473:pathology*; D001202:Ascitic Fluid / Q000473:pathology*; D021441:Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / Q000378:metabolism*; D002469:Cell Separation; D002642:Chick Embryo; D049033:Chorioallantoic Membrane; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; D006801:Humans; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D057285:Precision Medicine; D061251:Primary Cell Culture / Q000379:methods*; D023041:Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays