Lab-grown tumours

London scientists have grown replica mini tumours in a lab – a breakthrough that could lead to more personalised cancer care.

The team, at the Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden took biopsies from 71 patients with bowel, stomach and bile-duct cancer – who had already tried a range of drug treatments – and used cells from these samples to grow replica tumours.

When they tested drugs on the lab-grown tumours, they responded almost exactly as the patients’ growths had. So replica tumours, grown from the patient’s own, could be used as a quick and effective test for treatments.

Dr Nicola Valeri, the study leader, said: “Once a cancer has spread round the body and stopped responding to standard treatments, we face a race against time to find patients a drug that might slow the progression.”

The new technique has the potential to simplify this process, pending the findings being confirmed by larger trials.