Functional (ex vivo) drug testing
Growing a patient's own cancer cells in a dish and testing drugs on them directly, instead of guessing from genetics.
Patient-derived organoids and short-term ex vivo cultures (SEngine PARIS, Cancertain, Xilis, Curesponse) expose live tumour cells to drug panels. Feasibility and correlation with response are established in colorectal, pancreatic, and ovarian cancer; randomised proof of benefit is pending. Complementary to genomics when no actionable mutation exists.
How it works
Fresh tumour tissue dissociated and cultured in matrix; viability read-outs per drug within 1-3 weeks.
- Phenotype captures what genotype misses
- Tests combinations
- Take rate and timeline
- No stroma or immune component in most systems
Latest papers
topQuery for this technology: (TITLE:"functional precision medicine" OR ABSTRACT:"functional precision medicine" OR TITLE:"ex vivo drug sensitivity" OR ABSTRACT:"ex vivo drug sensitivity" OR TITLE:"drug sensitivity testing" OR ABSTRACT:"drug sensitivity testing") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Functional (ex vivo) drug testing, not a curated reading list.
Pages like this
not linked directly; found by shared links- CollectionDepMap (Cancer Dependency Map)
Shares Every drug screen includes standard reference compounds whose performance is published, A drug screen that only rewards killing sleeping cancer cells, A public atlas of drug-pair responses across a thousand patient-derived organoids, An open model bank for the rare tumours nobody has models for.
- TechnologyPatient-derived xenografts
Shares Zebrafish avatars for a drug answer within a week, Biobanking and tissue procurement, Run the mouse or organoid trial at the same time as the human trial, In vitro and in vivo.
- TechnologyCRISPR functional genomics
Shares Every resistance mechanism found in a patient must be rebuilt in the laboratory, An open atlas of collateral sensitivity for every approved targeted drug, Every drug screen includes standard reference compounds whose performance is published, A drug screen that only rewards killing sleeping cancer cells.
- CollectionCancer Models (PDCM Finder) & HCMI
Shares A funded organoid and PDX panel as the go/no-go gate before IND-enabling money, A public atlas of drug-pair responses across a thousand patient-derived organoids, An open model bank for the rare tumours nobody has models for, Patient-derived organoids.
- IdeaShared reference organoid and PDX panels that every lab can test against
Shares Every drug screen includes standard reference compounds whose performance is published, A public atlas of drug-pair responses across a thousand patient-derived organoids, Patient-derived organoids, Preclinical results do not reproduce.
- TermPreclinical
Shares Cell line, In vitro and in vivo, Organoid, Patient-derived organoids.
- IdeaAn open engine that ranks every drug pair by predicted synergy before anyone runs a trial
Shares A public atlas of drug-pair responses across a thousand patient-derived organoids, Patient-derived organoids to pick ADC payloads, Patient-derived organoids, Too many combinations to test.
- TermModel organism
Shares Cell line, In vitro and in vivo, Organoid.