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Champions Oncology AACR2025 Poster 928_Gilardi_FINAL_06Apr2025-bg

Poster

AACR 2025 Poster

Advancing CAR-Ts and anti-immunosuppressive therapy development: Immunosuppressive TME 3D co-culture platform grounded on a fully characterized PDX tumor Bank

Summary

Solid tumors remain a major challenge in oncology due to their highly immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME), which significantly impairs the effectiveness of immune-based therapies. Developing predictive preclinical models that accurately reflect these complex interactions has been a persistent obstacle to progress in immuno-oncology.

Champions Oncology developed an ex-vivo 3D co-culture platform grounded in its extensive PDX tumor bank (>1,500 models), integrating tumor organoids with key immune and stromal components—M2-polarized macrophages and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs)—to recreate a physiologically relevant immunosuppressive TME.

  • Tumor organoids were luciferase-labeled, enabling bioluminescent assays to track cell viability and cytotoxicity in response to therapies. The correlation between luciferase signal and viable cell count facilitated quantitative evaluation of CAR-T cytotoxicity.

  • The co-culture platform preserved immune and stromal cell phenotypes (e.g., M2 macrophages and CAFs), and successfully replicated complex TME features across indications. Dose-dependent CAR-T activity demonstrated reproducible therapeutic responses and model robustness.

  • This ex-vivo model offers a powerful and clinically relevant tool for evaluating CAR-T and combination therapies, advancing drug screening in immuno-oncology by uncovering resistance mechanisms and improving translational fidelity.

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