IScience: Comprehensive Characterization of Patient-Derived Xenograft Models of Pediatric Leukemia (Houghton, Grimes, Lai, Chen, Zheng, Kurmasheva, & Tomlinson Labs)

Anna Rogojina 1 12, Laura,  J. Klesse 2 3 4 12, Erin Butler 2 3 4 12, Jiwoong Kim 5, He Zhang 5, Xue Xiao 5, Lei Guo 5, Qinbo Zhou 5, Taylor Hartshorne 2, Dawn Garcia 1, Korri Weldon 1, Trevor Holland 1, Abhik Bandyopadhyay 1, Luz Perez Prado 1, Shidan Wang 5, Donghan M. Yang 5, Anne-Marie Langevin 6 7, Yi Zou 1, Allison C. Grimes 1 6 7, Chatchawin Assanasen 6, Vinod Gidvani-Diaz 8, Siyuan Zheng 1 7 9, Zhao Lai 1 7 10, Yidong Chen 1 7 9, Yang Xie 3 5 11, Gail E. Tomlinson 1 6 7, Stephen X. Skapek 2 3 4, Raushan T. Kurmasheva 1 7, Peter J. Houghton 1 7, Lin Xu 2 5 13

Summary

Patient-derived xenografts (PDX) remain valuable models for understanding biology and for developing novel therapeutics. To expand current PDX models of childhood leukemia, we have developed new PDX models from Hispanic patients, a subgroup with a poorer overall outcome. Of 117 primary leukemia samples obtained, successful engraftment and serial passage in mice were achieved in 82 samples (70%). Hispanic patient samples engrafted at a rate (51/73, 70%) that was similar to non-Hispanic patient samples (31/45, 70%). With a new algorithm to remove mouse contamination in multi-omics datasets, including methylation data, we found PDX models faithfully reflected somatic mutations, copy-number alterations, RNA expression, gene fusions, whole-genome methylation patterns, and immunophenotypes found in primary tumor (PT) samples in the first 50 reported here. This cohort of characterized PDX childhood leukemias represents a valuable resource in that germline DNA sequencing has allowed the unambiguous determination of somatic mutations in both PT and PDX.

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Since 2004, UT Health San Antonio, Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute’s (Greehey CCRI) mission has been to advance scientific knowledge relevant to childhood cancer, contribute to understanding its causes, and accelerate the translation of knowledge into novel therapies. Greehey CCRI strives to have a national and global impact on childhood cancer by discovering, developing, and disseminating new scientific knowledge. Our mission consists of three key areas — research, clinical, and education.

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