Correlation of primary tumor engraftment in immune deficient mice and relapse rate in patients with early-stage non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC)

11082 Background: Compared to cell lines, primary tumor xenografts potentially are more clinically relevant cancer models as they more closely reflect the phenotype and genotype of the original cancer. However, only a minority of tumors engraft successfully in severe combined immune deficient (scid) mice and can be passaged serially. Although xenograft models are used extensively, few studies have investigated whether tumors that engraft represent a distinct clinical subset. We hypothesized that NSCLC tumors with more aggressive clinical and histological features have greater engraftment capacity than those with a less aggressive phenotype. Methods: Fresh primary tumors were harvested from NSCLC patients who underwent curative resection. Tumor fragments were implanted into the subcutaneous tissue of non-obese diabetic-scid mice within 24 hrs of excision. Patient characteristics for tumors that engrafted (XG) and did not engraft (No-XG) were compared. Only tumors from patients with >1-yr follow-up were eva...