Novel approaches using 3-dimensional reconstructs
Despite remarkable efforts, metastatic melanoma still presents with significant mortality. Recently, mono-chemotherapies are increasingly replenished by more cancer specific combination therapies involving death ligands and drugs interfering with cell signaling. Still, melanoma quickly adopt to alternative therapeutic approaches, become resistant and regain the tumorigenic potential. In order to improve the increasing requests on new therapeutic alternatives, reliable high throughput screening models are demanded that translate the findings from basic cellular research into clinical applications. By developing an organotypic full skin equivalent, harboring melanoma tumor spheroids of defined sizes we have invented a cell-based model that recapitulates both the 3-d organization and multicellular complexity of an organ/tumor in vivo but at the same time accommodates systematic experimental intervention. By using this organotypic tumor model we are aiming to elucidate the impact of intra-tumoral diversity and of the surrounding host tissue on the therapeutic success. Above this, the model serves the needs of a fast and reliable tool for pre-clinical analysis of tailored combination therapies to establish individualized melanoma therapy.
