Abstract
The culture and expansion of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) for ex vivo assays plays an important role in precision medicine. However, it still represents a big challenge in translational research. Generating knowledge about the characteristics of CTCs can help to shed light about the metastasis process. Furthermore, ex vivo culture of CTCs might allow performing functional analyses and testing different drugs, to guide clinical therapies. In this work, we present a new methodology based on the use of nanosystems to support ex vivo culture of CTCs. We have formulated oil-in-water (O/W) nanoemulsions (NEs) composed by lipids and fatty acids, and have demonstrated that they can help increasing cell viability on different breast cancer cell lines. Moreover, we have generated a CTC model from breast cancer mice xenografts, to prove the ability of the NEs to facilitate their culture and expansion. Additionally, we have postulated a mechanism of action based on the cell consumption of the NEs, which are acting as energy suppliers, driving proliferation. This work corroborates the potential of nanotechnology to provide valuable tools for precision oncology, and the ability of our NEs to improve proliferation of breast cancer CTCs for the establishment of CTCs culture protocols.
Published Version
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