Establishing a patient-derived colorectal cancer xenograft model for translational research

Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains to present a high incidence and mortality rate, despite of the advances in current targeted theraputic approaches. Accumulating studies indicates that Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) is an important cancer research tool for more personalized precision medicine. In this study, eighty five CRC tumors derived from Chinese patients were transplanted into BALB/c nude mice for PDX models establishment. Immunohistochemical and molecular investigations (such as, Sanger sequencing, AmpliSeq Cancer Hotspot Panel Version 2 and Proteomics) were performed to verify if the PDX retained both features from the patient. Then, PDX (the first generation) initiation engraftment rate and speed related pathologic and genetic factors were explored. We found that 50 out of 85 (58.5%) CRC tumors successfully engrafted. A high genetic concordance between patient donor tumor and PDX was confirmed by pathologic, genetic, and proteomics investigations. CRC tumor staging, tumor location, somatic mutations were correlated with PDX initiation engraftment rate and speed. In conclusion, we established 50 CRC PDX models with a high histologic and genetic representativeness of the primary tumor. This platform will represent a reliable tool for CRC precision medicine and cancer translational research.