Abstract 1072: Development and characterization of patient derived xenograft (PDX) avatars of human cholangiocarcinoma

Abstract

Abstract Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a fatal primary malignancy with limited treatment options and a dismal 5year survival rate of <10%. Poor prognosis and early recurrence after surgical treatment warrants further molecular characterization of these tumors to evaluate therapeutic sensitivities and identification of biomarkers for CCA. Although several Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) studies have revealed some targetable genomic aberrations, the lack of preclinical and translational models has severely limited the identification of clinically relevant targeted therapies for CCA. So far, very few putative molecular targets/pathways have been identified using patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models, CCA cell derived xenograft models (CDX) and CCA cell lines, only 4 of which have progressed to preclinical testing for therapeutic value. In this study we describe development and comprehensive characterization of patient derived xenograft models of CCA from freshly resected patient tissue. Patient tumor cells from 8 patients were engrafted subcutaneously in highly immunocompromised NSG (NOD.Cg-PrkdcscidIl2rgtm1Wj) mice for PDX development. Two (CCA-1 and CCA-7) of 8 (25 %) engraftments yielded successful PDX model. The PDX avatar and matched patient tumor samples were genomically characterized at the whole exome and transcriptome level to check the fidelity of PDX models. Exome sequencing analysis of PDX tumors demonstrate higher genomic aberrations as compared to their patient counterparts. Preliminary analysis of transcriptomic profiles from CCA TCGA dataset, long term established intra- and extra-hepatic CCA cell lines (Mz-ChA-1, TFK-1, SG231, CCLP-1, HuCC-T1 and HuH-28), CCA CDX model from Mz-ChA-1 cells and CCA PDX models demonstrate that CCA PDX models more faithfully recapitulate patient tumors as compared to long term established cell lines. In summary, this proof of concept study demonstrates that PDX avatars of CCA could serve as a good model system for preclinical target discovery and validation for a deadly and neglected disease such as CCA. Citation Format: Sanhita Rath, Sen Peng, Lauren Hartman, George Reid, Harshil Dhruv, Shannon Glaser, Fanyin Meng, Gianfranco Alpini, Scott Celinski. Development and characterization of patient derived xenograft (PDX) avatars of human cholangiocarcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1072.