SUCCESS OF BRONCHOSCOPICALLY EXTRACTED SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER (SCLC) SAMPLE IN ESTABLISHING PRIMARY SCLC XENOGRAFTS: A PRECLINICAL AERODIGESTIVE CANCER MODEL TO ESTABLISH BIOMARKER PROFILE AND RESPONSE TO NOVEL THERAPIES

PURPOSE: For the study of translational tumor biology, human lung cancer cell lines are convenient but limited models as they don't reproduce the three-dimensional cellular interactions of tumors in-vivo. Recent studies suggest the utility of primary human cancer xenografts as better models for cancer biology and therapeutics. Examples include demonstration of genetic changes such as EGFR amplification in primary brain tumors that are maintained in xenograft tumors but not in tissue cultures (Pandita, 2004); at our institution, primary pancreatic cancer xenograft lines can model preclinical responses to Hedgehog pathway inhibitors (Berman, 2004). Such xenografts usually require surgically resected samples, unlikely situation for Small Cell Lung Cancers (SCLC). We are reporting on what we believe are the first series of human SCLC xenografts grown from bronchoscopically retrieved samples, their biologic properties and preliminary translational studies.