title: Innovative approaches to establish and characterize primary cultures: anex vivo3D system and the zebrafish model.
abstract: Patient-derived specimens are an invaluable resource to investigate tumor biology. However,in vivostudies on primary cultures are often limited by the small amount of material available, while conventionalin vitrosystems might alter the features and behavior that characterize cancer cells. We present our data obtained on primary dedifferentiated liposarcoma cells cultured in a 3D scaffold-based system and injected into a zebrafish model. Primary cells were characterizedin vitrofor their morphological features, sensitivity to drugs and biomarker expression, andin vivofor their engraftment and invasiveness abilities. The 3D culture showed a higher enrichment in cancer cells than the standard monolayer culture and a better preservation of liposarcoma-associated markers. We also successfully grafted primary cells into zebrafish, showing their local migratory and invasive abilities. Our work provides proof of concept of the ability of 3D cultures to maintain the original phenotype ofex vivocells, and highlights the potential of the zebrafish model to provide a versatilein vivosystem for studies with limited biological material. Such models could be used in translational research studies for biomolecular analyses, drug screenings and tumor aggressiveness assays.
authors.affiliation: Osteoncology and Rare Tumors Center, Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS, via P. Maroncelli 40, Meldola 47014, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liverani
authors.affiliation: Osteoncology and Rare Tumors Center, Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS, via P. Maroncelli 40, Meldola 47014, Italy.|Leiden University Medical Center, Department of Urology, J-3-100, Albinusdreef 2, Leiden 2333ZA, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: La Manna
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Sylviusweg 72, Leiden 2333BE, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Arwin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Groenewoud
authors.affiliation: Osteoncology and Rare Tumors Center, Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS, via P. Maroncelli 40, Meldola 47014, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mercatali
authors.affiliation: Leiden University Medical Center, Department of Urology, J-3-100, Albinusdreef 2, Leiden 2333ZA, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Gabri
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Van Der Pluijm
authors.affiliation: Pathology Unit, Morgagni-Pierantoni Hospital, Forlì 47121, Italy.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pieri
authors.affiliation: Unit of Surgery and Advanced Oncologic Therapies, Morgagni-Pierantoni Hospital, Forlì 47121, Italy.
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cavaliere
authors.affiliation: Osteoncology and Rare Tumors Center, Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS, via P. Maroncelli 40, Meldola 47014, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Vita
authors.affiliation: Osteoncology and Rare Tumors Center, Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS, via P. Maroncelli 40, Meldola 47014, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Spadazzi
authors.affiliation: Osteoncology and Rare Tumors Center, Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS, via P. Maroncelli 40, Meldola 47014, Italy.
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Miserocchi
authors.affiliation: Osteoncology and Rare Tumors Center, Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS, via P. Maroncelli 40, Meldola 47014, Italy.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bongiovanni
authors.affiliation: Osteoncology and Rare Tumors Center, Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS, via P. Maroncelli 40, Meldola 47014, Italy.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Recine
authors.affiliation: Osteoncology and Rare Tumors Center, Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS, via P. Maroncelli 40, Meldola 47014, Italy.
authors.forename: Nada
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Riva
authors.affiliation: Osteoncology and Rare Tumors Center, Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS, via P. Maroncelli 40, Meldola 47014, Italy.
authors.forename: Dino
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Amadori
authors.affiliation: Department of Regenerative Medicine, Houston Methodist Research Institute, 6670 Bertner Avenue, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Ennio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tasciotti
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Sylviusweg 72, Leiden 2333BE, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Snaar-Jagalska
authors.affiliation: Osteoncology and Rare Tumors Center, Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS, via P. Maroncelli 40, Meldola 47014, Italy toni.ibrahim@irst.emr.it.
authors.forename: Toni
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0259-4167
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
keywords: Collagen scaffolds; Near-patient models; Primary cultures; Zebrafish