Download Champions' latest SITC 2026 Poster #620

Assessing a Patient-derived TumorGraft3D-NK Cell Co-culture Platform for IO Drug Screening and Development Utilizing Flow Cytometry

Natural killer (NK) cells are a powerful first line of defense against cancer, and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) is increasingly recognized as a key driver of response to antibody-based therapies. But conventional 2D models often miss the complexity of human tumors and the contribution of immune effector cells.

In this study, Champions Oncology scientists developed a 3D ex vivo co-culture platform that pairs our clinically annotated TumorGraft3D™ PDX-derived organoids (PDXOs) from ovarian and colorectal cancer with expanded NK cells. Using multiparametric flow cytometry and Luminex cytokine profiling, the platform captures tumor killing, apoptosis, NK cell activation and cytokine release in response to FDA-approved antibodies including atezolizumab, avelumab, cetuximab and daratumumab.

Download this poster to discover:

• How flow cytometry confirmed that our 3D PDX models preserve clinically relevant therapeutic targets (including PD-L1, CD38, EGFR, HER2 and B7-H3) across ovarian and colorectal PDX models
  
  
• Why optimizing the effector-to-target (E:T) ratio is essential for robust, reproducible NK co-culture readouts
  
  
• How ADCC-capable and non-ADCC antibodies combined with NK cells significantly enhanced tumor killing in 3D models, and how target expression level shaped the response
  
  
• How a high-throughput flow cytometry assay separates low-frequency tumor cells from NK cells to reveal mechanisms of cytotoxicity, alongside IFN-γ cytokine profiling