2. Academic Validation
  3. Optimized culturing yields high success rates and preserves molecular heterogeneity, enabling personalized screening for high-grade gliomas

Optimized culturing yields high success rates and preserves molecular heterogeneity, enabling personalized screening for high-grade gliomas

  • NPJ Precis Oncol. 2025 May 27;9(1):156. doi: 10.1038/s41698-025-00946-1.
Cassandra Posthoorn-Verheul 1,  Federica Fabro 1 2 3,  Ioannis Ntafoulis 1,  Chelsea den Hollander 1,  Iris S C Verploegh 1 2,  Rutger Balvers 1,  Trisha V Kers 1,  Jessica Hoogeveen 1,  Judith van der Burg 1,  Bert Eussen 4,  Annelies de Klein 4,  Kate J Feller 5,  Miao-Ping Chien 5,  Clemens M F Dirven 1,  Sieger Leenstra 1,  Martine L M Lamfers 6
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Neurosurgery, Brain Tumor Center, Erasmus Medical Center Cancer Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
  • 2 Department of Cell Biology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
  • 3 Department of Developmental Biology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
  • 4 Department of Clinical Genetics, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
  • 5 Department of Molecular Genetics, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
  • 6 Department of Neurosurgery, Brain Tumor Center, Erasmus Medical Center Cancer Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. m.lamfers@erasmusmc.nl.
PMID: 40425813 DOI: 10.1038/s41698-025-00946-1
Abstract

To discover new treatment options for high-grade glioma (HGG), robust in vitro models are essential, but reliably establishing patient-derived cell cultures remains challenging. We established glioma stem-like cell (GSC) cultures from 114 consecutive HGG specimens via traditional surgical resection and/or ultrasonic aspiration, using completely dissociated single cell (single cell-derived, SCD) and partially dissociated 3D-derived (3DD) tissue fragments. Higher success rates in culture establishment were obtained from ultrasonic aspirates and 3DD surgical samples. Combining these approaches yielded a 96% success rate. Copy number profiling showed overall genetic similarities between cultures and parental tissue. Single-cell Sequencing revealed greater transcriptomic heterogeneity in ultrasonic aspiration-derived cultures. Our protocol enabled the screening of 20 anti-cancer agents within a clinically relevant timeframe for 16 out of 18 HGG samples. This refined protocol serves as a robust tool for establishing HGG cell cultures that retain the molecular characteristics of the tumors and support applications in precision medicine.

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