Implementation of colorectal cancer models and assays for future radiopharmaceutical research

Colorectal cancer is the third most common identified malignancy worldwide. Even though extensive screening programs and new treatments for the adjuvant and metastatic disease have reduced mortality in the last decades, it is still the second leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide with an estimated number of 935 000 deaths in 2022. Therefore, colorectal cancer represents an important health and socioeconomic burden. In half of the patients, metastatic lesions are discovered in the liver, lungs, bones, brain or spinal cord, drastically reducing their five year survival rates below 20%. Tailored, targeted treatments to molecular features of the patients’ tumors should improve the overall survival of (un)resectable metastatic colorectal cancer. As such, multiple radiopharmaceuticals are currently being developed and evaluated for their therapeutic potential in preclinical settings. SCK CEN has set the ambitious goal to support this fight against cancer. To screen in house developed radiopharmaceuticals, we first have to implement and characterize a syngeneic colorectal cancer model. Techniques may include – but are not limited to –:

• in vitro cell culture (2D and 3D model development)
• target identification using Western blot, immunocytochemistry and/or flow cytometry
• live cell imaging using apoptosis, cytotoxicity and migration markers
• apoptosis, cytotoxicity and mitochondrial integrity assays using spectrophotometry
• clonogenic assays
• DNA damage and cell proliferation assays using immunocytochemistry
• syngeneic xenografted mouse model
• ex vivo target identification using Western blot and/or immunofluorescence