Abstract
Brain cancers remain one of the greatest medical challenges. The lack of experimentally tractable models that recapitulate brain structure/function represents a major impediment. Platforms that enable functional testing in high-fidelity models are urgently needed to accelerate the identification and translation of therapies to improve outcomes for patients suffering from brain cancer. In vitro assays are often too simple and artificial while in vivo studies can be time-intensive and complicated. Our live, organotypic brain slice platform can be used to seed and grow brain cancer cell lines, allowing us to bridge the existing gap in models. These tumors can rapidly establish within the brain slice microenvironment, and morphologic features of the tumor can be seen within a short period of time. The growth, migration, and treatment dynamics of tumors seen on the slices recapitulate what is observed in vivo yet is missed by in vitro models. Additionally, the brain slice platform allows for the dual seeding of different cell lines to simulate characteristics of heterogeneous tumors. Furthermore, live brain slices with embedded tumor can be generated from tumor-bearing mice. This method allows us to quantify tumor burden more effectively and allows for treatment and retreatment of the slices to understand treatment response and resistance that may occur in vivo. This brain slice platform lays the groundwork for a new clinically relevant preclinical model which provides physiologically relevant answers in a short amount of time leading to an acceleration of therapeutic translation.