Biópsias Líquidas para avatars de doentes

The specific objectives of LIFEBLOOD are: 1- to harvest CTCs from CRC patients to generate PDOs. CTCs shall be harvested at sequential time points to mimic disease progression (see Workplan). 2- to generate PDOs from surgical biopsies under similar culture conditions as for CTC-generated PDOs (see Figure 1) 3- to characterize the generated PDOs at the cell and molecular level to identify biomarkers of disease progression – CTCs to PDO generation (see Figure 1). 4- to assess chemotherapy intervention in PDOs and narrow down the biomarkers of value for therapy follow-up. These biomarkers shall include those already used in the clinical for patient follow-up and management of therapy regimens. This hierarchical approach should improve translation potential from the in vitro avatars to the patient. 5- Evaluate the efficacy of LIFEBLOOD as a disease progression predictor. 6- gather fundamental information on the differential response from CTC-derived PDOs vs. standard PDOs vs. patients toward the understating and narrowing of the molecular gaps associated with the translation of LIFEBLOOD models to personalized tools. These biomarkers shall be used to fine-tune and adjust LIFEBLOOD design towards optimized personalized patient response. 7- continue to tighten and extend international collaboration in the fight against cancer to promote highly qualified training and educational activities (MSc & PhD) 8- ensure public awareness of CRC to promote better health 9- together with our clinical partners, blueprint the strategy for effective translation of LIFEBLOOD to the clinical setting, strengthening the collaboration between the health sector and academia. An effective exploitation plan based on LIFEBLOOD shall be conceived from the synergies created between partners.