Taconic Biosciences and Cellaria Biosciences are collaborating on an initiative to improve the use of patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) in animal models for oncology and immuno-oncology research.
Taconic’s portfolio of tissue humanized mouse models are well-suited as hosts for PDXs and will complement Cellaria’s methodologies for generating cells from patient tumors. The companies said traditional methods of obtaining tumor cell material are labor-intensive and expensive, which can hinder researchers’ access to the material. Cellaria’s approach to propagating tumor cell material and generating PDX banks can reduce the associated labor and costs, making patient-derived tumor models more accessible to investigators.
“By collaborating with a company that has achieved great success in generating cell lines from patient-derived tumors, Taconic will be able to deliver more predictive tissue humanized models that will improve and accelerate oncology research and drug discovery,” said Todd Little, president of corporate development at Taconic.
Cellaria said its technology allows for the creation of PDX banks in a controlled manner, supports more effective tumor engraftments on study animals, and enables harvesting sufficient tumor material for use in long-term and repeat studies. The collaboration will initially focus on the development of breast cancer cell lines from PDX models for which Taconic holds licenses from the University of Utah.
PDX models are a new generation of mouse models that are created by implanting a fresh human tumor in an immune-deficient mouse.
In October 2014, GEN interviewed seven experts, including Benjamin August, Ph.D., director of research models and services at Taconic, to learn what makes a good mouse model and to find out for which applications and diseases better models are most needed. Read the roundup here.
