Fig. 1

Isolation success of BC-PDMs. (A) Live-dead cell staining of isolated BC-PDMs from representative breast carcinoma tissue samples. BC-PDMs were stained with Calcein-AM (viable cells), SYTOX™ Orange (dead cells) and Hoechst 33258 (nuclei). Scale bars 50 µm. (B) Quantification of viable and dead cells in n = 27 BC models (on average three BC-PDMs per model) reveals high viability of BC-PDMs. Fluorescent intensities and volumes (µm3) were assessed using the Imaris Software. Wilcoxon paired signed rank test, ***p < 0.001. (C) Area measurement of BC-PDMs from n = 27 BC models. Data are shown as mean values with SD. (D) Success rate of microtumor isolation from n = 102 breast carcinomas. 50% of BC-PDMs reached a total number of more than 100 single microtumors. (E) Correlation of BC-PDM isolation success rate and clinical characteristics of corresponding breast carcinomas tissue samples