3D Sponge-Matrix Histoculture

Robert M. Hoffman

Patient tumors grew in Gelfoam® histoculture with maintenance of tissue architecture, tumor-stromal interaction, and differentiated functions. In this chapter, we review the use of Gelfoam® histoculture to demonstrate proliferation indices of major solid cancer types explanted directly from surgery. Cell proliferation was visualized by histological autoradiography within the cultured tissues after [3H]thymidine incorporation by the proliferating cells. Epilumination polarization microscopy enables high-resolution imaging of the autoradiography of each cell. The histological status of the cultured tissues can be assessed simultaneously with the proliferation status. Carcinomas were observed to have areas of high epithelial proliferation with quiescent stromal cells. Sarcomas have high proliferation of the cancer cells of mesenchymal organ. Normal tissues can also proliferate at high rates. Mean growth fraction index (GFI) was highest for patient tumors with the pure subtype of small-cell lung cancer than other types of lung cancer.