Processing of tumor tissues for vaccination with autologous tumor cells.

Vaccination with gene-transfected tumor cells has recently been proposed as a new strategy in the immunotherapy of cancer. Since autologous tumor cells provide an optimal antigen profile, the possibility of generating single cell suspensions from renal cell carcinoma (RCC), malignant melanoma (MM), colon carcinoma (CC), and non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) biopsies was investigated. One hundred and seventy-four tumor biopsies were processed by mechanic and enzymatic dissociation, yielding 1-2 x 10(6) cells/g tumor (median), irrespective of tumor type. Primary tumor cell cultures (PTCC) of greater than or equal to 10(7) cells were established from 29 of 86 (34%) RCC, 14 of 38 (37%) MM, 11 of 23 (48%) NSCLC and 4 of 27 (15%) CC specimens. The amount of non-tumor cells, as assessed by morphology and immunocytology, was generally low (< 30%) in RCC (35 of 41) and MM (11 of 17), while it exceeded 60% in 8 of 11 PTCC from NSCLC and 3 of 11 CC. A high tumor cell yield was obtained in biopsies with a high degree of vascularization and in the virtual absence of necrosis. Thus, PTCC greater than or equal to 10(7) cells were obtained in 73% of MM with a high degree of vascularization and in 22% of MM with a low degree of vascularization (p < 0.007). Long-term tumor cell cultures exceeding 20 passages were established in 24 of 86 (18%) RCC, 7 of 38 (18%) MM and 3 of 27 (11%) CC, while successful implantation in nude mice was achieved in 8 of 20 RCC and 5 of 10 MM. Thus, under the conditions described, greater than or equal to 10(7) primary tumor cells of high purity could be generated from about one third of RCC and MM biopsies, while the success rate increased to > 50 and > 70%, respectively, in samples with a high degree of vascularization generated by an optimized biopsy technique excluding necrotic parts.