Research

CPDM has a large collection of primary and metastatic brain tumor models (230+ PDCLs and 90+ PDXs).

See our detailed model lists for more information about our brain tumor models. RNA-seq data, whole-exome seq data, and low-pass WGS data are available on cBioPortal. Genomic and transcriptomic data for these models is also available.

Learn more about ordering and licensing these models, or email us at models@dfci.harvard.edu to submit an inquiry.

See CPDM's SOPs for working with these models for guidance.

Primary Brain Tumor Models

Our primary brain tumor models cover various gliomas and include several rare IDH1 R132H models, as well as rare models of oligodendroglioma, medulloblastoma, and pineoblastoma, atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor.

Many of the brain tumor models have been previously published in various studies including Cancer Cell 2011; Nature 2012; Br J Cancer 2014; Oncotarget 2015; Cell Rep. 2016; Cell 2016; Clin Cancer Res. 2016; Nat Biotechnol. 2016; Cell Rep. 2017; PNAS 2017; Cancer Res. 2018; Genome Biol. 2018; Nature Commun. 2019; Nature 2020; Ferrer-Luna et al., 2019 (in revision); and De Smet et al., 2019 (manuscript in preparation); Cell Report 2021. A subset of the glioblastoma and oligodendroglioma spheroid models are currently characterized in the Cancer Dependency Map Project.

Metastatic Brain Tumor Models

Our metastatic brain tumor models have diverse origins of primary cancers (lung, skin, breast, colon, esophagus, testis, and others) – from the most common breast carcinoma and lung adenocarcinoma to the rare neuroendocrine carcinoma, prostate adenocarcinoma, yolk sac tumor, and small cell lung carcinoma. We recently presented this rare collection of models at the 2020 SNO Conference on Brain Metastases, and a recorded webinar is available.

A collection of our 3D spheroid models are also luciferased and amendable for in vivo intracranial studies with bioluminescence imaging. Please see the table below.