Abstract Background: Animal models frequently fail to recapitulate the immune and metabolic complexity of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). To address this, we developed two complementary non-animal platforms, a patient-derived ex vivo tissue system and a biosensor platform to enable rapid, mechanistic, and clinically relevant drug testing. Experiments: i) Fresh RCC specimens were sectioned into precision-cut tissue slices (PCTS) and co-cultured with autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) (5x10⁵ co-cultured with one PCTS) for six days. Treatment groups included: a) cabozantinib (cabo) alone, b) cabo with cemiplimab (cemi, a PD-1 inhibitor), c) cemi with fianlimab (fin, a LAG-3 inhibitor). The co-cultured PCTS were analyzed using H Part 1 (Regular Abstracts) ; 2026 Apr 17-22; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2026;86 (7 Suppl): Abstract nr 662.
Gulati et al. (2026) studied this question.
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