Dr. Semrad on SPIDER Program to Understand Resistance to Therapies

Thomas J. Semrad, MD, assistant professor, co-director, Phase I Program, UC Davis Health System, discusses the Serial Patient-Derived Xenografts to Understand Cancer Therapy Resistance (SPIDER) program at UC Davis Health System, aimed at understanding patient resistance to cancer therapies.

Researchers are working to understand the efficacy of novel targeted and immunotherapy agents, what resistance develops, and how to overcome this resistance, Semrad explains. The SPIDER program involves examining research-based tumor biopsies. A biopsy is done prior to the start of a new treatment and tumor tissue is implanted into immune-deficient mice, known as patient-derived xenografts.

These models are able to treated similarly to human patients because they are able to be recapitulated, Semrad explains. When patients develop resistance to the treatment, a second biopsy is done, as well as a second implantation of tumor tissue into another mouse model.