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. 2018 Dec 24;11(1):19. doi: 10.3390/cancers11010019

Figure 1.

Figure 1

CTC-derived pre-clinical models. (A) 2D cultures. (B) Spheroid generation. Cell suspension is cultured in extracellular matrix (ECM) or in a specific liquid culture medium. After a couple of days, cells assemble into spheroids. Specific growth factor–supplemented medium is added to allow the spheroids to expand over time. (C) Images of spheroids derived from isolated CTCs of different tumor origin: U251 glioma, KHOS sarcoma and PC3 prostate carcinoma cell lines (original magnification: X200). Histological image of KHOS spheroids (HE stained) and CD44 (green) expression by a KHOS spheroid observed using confocal microscopy (blue: Hoechst staining of nuclei). (D) Organoid generation. Suspensions of isolated cancer cells are cultured in the presence of specific growth factor–supplemented medium and ECM. After 7-10 days, the generation of cancer-organoid structures can be observed. (E) CDX models. CTCs are collected from the patient by means of a non-invasive biopsy. They are isolated and injected into immunodeficient mice that may form a tumor.