title: Influence of handling conditions on the establishment and propagation of head and neck cancer patient derived xenografts.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patient derived xenografts (PDXs) for head and neck cancer (HNC) and other cancers represent powerful research platforms. Most groups implant patient tissue into immunodeficient mice immediately although the significance of this time interval is anecdotal. We tested the hypothesis that the time from tumor excision to implantation is crucial for PDX passaging and establishment.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined whether time or storage medium affected PDX viability for passaging two established HNC PDXs (UW-SCC34, UW-SCC52). Tumors were harvested, stored in ice-cold media or saline for 0-48 hours, and implanted into new mice. Tumor growth was compared by two-way ANOVA with respect to time and storage condition. Three new HNC PDXs (UW-SCC63-65) were generated by implanting patient tissue into mice immediately (Time 0) and 24 hours after receiving tissue from the operating room.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Similar quantities of tumor were implanted into each mouse. At the end of the experiment, no significant difference was seen in mean tumor weight between the media and saline storage conditions for UW-SCC34 or UW-SCC52 (p = 0.650 and p = 0.177, respectively). No difference in tumor formation prevalence was seen on the basis of time from harvest to implantation (≥13 of 16 tumors grew at every time point). Histological analysis showed strong similarity to the initial tumor across all groups. Tumors developed at both Time 0 and 24 hours for UW-SCC63 and UW-SCC64.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We demonstrated that neither storage medium nor time from tumor excision to implantation (up to 48 hours) affected viability or histological differentiation in a subsequent passage for two HNC PDXs. Moreover, we revealed that fresh patient tissue is viable up to 24 hours post-resection. This information is important as it applies to the development and sharing of PDXs.
authors: Department of Human Oncology, University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America; McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research and Department of Oncology, University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.
authors: Andrew P
authors: AP
authors: Stein
authors: Department of Biostatistics, University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.
authors: Sandeep
authors: S
authors: Saha
authors: Department of Pathology, University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.
authors: Cheng Z
authors: CZ
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Otolaryngology, University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.
authors: Gregory K
authors: GK
authors: Hartig
authors: McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research and Department of Oncology, University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.
authors: Paul F
authors: PF
authors: Lambert
authors: Department of Human Oncology, University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.
authors: Randall J
authors: RJ
authors: Kimple
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D064593:Heterografts; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D013048:Specimen Handling; D047368:Tumor Burden