Slice cultures from head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a novel test system for drug susceptibility and mechanisms of resistance

Background: Human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) fundamentally vary in their susceptibility to different cytotoxic drugs and treatment modalities. There is at present no clinically accepted test system to predict the most effective therapy for an individual patient. Methods: Therefore, we established tumour-derived slice cultures which can be kept in vitro for at least 6 days. Upon treatment with cisplatin, docetaxel and cetuximab, slices were fixed and paraffin sections were cut for histopathological analysis. Results: Apoptotic fragmentation, activation of caspase 3, and cell loss were observed in treated tumour slices. Counts of nuclei per field in untreated compared with treated slices deriving from the same tumour allowed estimation of the anti-neoplastic activity of individual drugs on an individual tumour. Conclusion: HNSCC-derived slice cultures survive well in vitro and may serve not only to improve personalised therapies but also to detect mechanisms of tumour resistance by harvesting surviving tumour cells after treatment.