Ex Vivo Drug Response Profiling and Outcome Prediction in Lung Adenocarcinoma

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment decisions often rely on DNA sequencing, which only partially captures the tumor's mutational landscape and may miss other complex resistance mechanisms. Consequently, an unbiased functional drug screen is essential to rapidly identify optimal next-line therapies. Current drug sensitivity testing (DST) is limited by inefficient live tumor cells isolation. To address this, a rapid, unbiased DST platform utilizing FDA-approved targeted therapies was developed. Our approach uses malignant pleural effusions (MPEs) as a rich source of viable tumor cells. Because MPEs are highly heterogeneous, tumor cells are first identified via EpCAM flow cytometry, and the sample is enriched for tumor cells by depleting CD45+ immune cells using antibody-coated magnetic beads. These enriched tumor cells are then seeded into drug-containing plates. Following 72-hour incubation, cell viability is assessed using the CellTiter-Glo assay. Treatment efficacy is determined by the degree of reduction in cell viability at a range of drug concentrations, where the most effective treatment is the drug that reduces cell viability at the lowest concentration range.

To link clinical outcome and ex-vivo drug response assays, the investigators systematically measure drug sensitivity and resistance of primary tumor cells ex-vivo using a diverse compound library for individual patients in need of treatment. By systematically analyzing ex-vivo drug response patterns, tumors should be functionally grouped, by response phenotype. While for the purpose of this study selection of a specific treatment will not be based on ex-vivo drug response assays, clinical response- and follow-up data of patients will be prospectively collected in parallel.