Russian scientists have increased the accuracy of the technology for determining cancer resistance to treatment
Scientists of Kazan Federal University have created a test system that more accurately determines the resistance of neuroblastoma (a cancerous tumor of the central nervous system) to drugs. This is reported by RIA Novosti with reference to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
Neuroblastoma is one of the most common tumors that is characteristic of young children. It is also considered resistant to chemicals and difficult to treat. Thanks to the development of scientists, it will be easier for doctors to select the right drugs to fight the disease.
To determine the resistance of a tumor to drugs, scientists create a copy of it in a test tube and look at the interaction with drugs. The accuracy of the test was improved by taking into account the influence of additional factors on the development of cancer — neighboring cells and cells of the human immune system.
To do this, scientists of the research laboratory "Gene and Cell Technologies" of the Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology of KFU used the method of joint cultivation of several populations of cells in the tumor tissue. In their opinion, using the usual method of testing on the same type of tumor cells, it is not always possible to obtain accurate results about the composition and microenvironment of the tumor in the body.
So, they used three types of cell populations – stem cells from bone marrow, a mixture of immune blood cells and a human neuroblastoma cell line. The cells in such a "set" actively "communicated" with each other. Stem and immune cells, in turn, contributed to the creation of an inflammatory environment that is inherent in a malignant tumor. As a result, it turned out that in this case, cancer cells are more resistant to the action of an antitumor drug than malignant cells cultured under standard conditions.
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