P9 - Preclinical models of prostate cancer research

Sabrina Köcher & Wael Mansour
Laboratory for Radiobiology & Experimental Radiooncology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf

To date, many questions in the field of PCa translational research cannot be adequately answered due to the lack of an appropriate preclinical model that represents PCa in vivo.

Ex-vivo Assay:

For that reason, we successfully established an ex-vivo assay using tumor slice cultures to follow DSB repair as well as to test new treatment strategies. This assay was already used to identify DSB repair defects in human xenograft tumors as well as in numerous human PCa samples. Using this assay, we are trying to answer several questions related to DNA repair in PCa and to rationalize the use of specific DNA repair inhibitors or second generation antiandrogens to potentiate the effect of radiotherapy.

Patient-derived organoids:

We also established patient-derived PCa organoids (PCa PDO) to be used as pre-clinical models in PCa translational research. We established isolation, cultivation and growth conditions which enable optimum growth of PCa PDO. We could show that our established PDOs reflect – to a large extent – the properties of original tumours. Currently, we are performing further optimization and fine establishment of PDO cultures to use as pre-clinical models for translational tumour research.

Grants: BMBF, FFM, Monika Kutzner Stiftung, German Cancer Aid

Contact: w.mansour@uke.de