Patient-derived xenograft culture-transplant system for investigation of human breast cancer metastasis

We report a new method for culturing patient breast tumor cells in vitro, for subsequent transplantation in vivo for experimental metastasis assays. RNA sequencing shows that tumor spheres formed in culture maintain the fundamental properties of native tumor cells. Overall design: Comparison of uncultured and cultured cells of two patient-derived xenograft models (HCI010 and HCI002). 6 biological replicates of uncultured cells (n=3 HCI010, n=3 HCI002), and paired cultured cells (n=3 HCI010, n=3 HCI002).