Rapid drug selection test under development
25 juni 2026
A rapid test can show within two weeks which medicines are likely to be effective against childhood cancer. The test is still under development and is intended for children with solid tumors for whom standard treatment has stopped working. Research into this rapid test brings personalized treatment for children with cancer a step closer. In the future, the test could contribute to better treatments with fewer side effects.
For children with cancer, it is crucial not to delay treatment. Doctors therefore often have to decide quickly which therapy is most appropriate. At the Máxima, we analyze the entire DNA of the tumor to determine exactly what type of cancer a child has. This helps in selecting the most suitable treatment.
When standard treatment doesn’t work well enough, a new treatment plan is needed. Existing models for testing drugs using tumor cells take 8–12 months, which takes far too long to help these children. That is why researchers at the Princess Máxima Center and the Institut Curie in Paris set out to find a faster approach.
‘Faster insight into promising medicines’
The researchers tested a wide range of drugs on living tumor cells outside the body. In a single experiment, they were able to test 134 or even 224 medicines at once. Results were available within 14 days – fast enough to help doctors make treatment decisions.
‘Our approach provides faster and better insight into which drugs are promising for an individual child,’ says Marlinde Schoonbeek, PhD candidate in the Molenaar group at the Máxima, who worked on the study.
The scientists tested their approach across several types of childhood cancer. The method proved to be both feasible and reliable.
In many cases, the rapid test identified at least one drug that was likely to be effective. The test also indicates which drugs are unlikely to work, helping spare children unnecessary treatments and side effects.
Further research
The test is now being studied further. Prof. Dr. Jan Molenaar led the research at the Máxima. He says: ‘With the development of this faster test, we are taking an important step toward truly personalized care for every child with cancer.’
The research was published today in the journal npj Precision Oncology and was funded by ITCC-P4. The High-throughput screening facility is supported by the Children Cancer Free Foundation (KiKa).
High-throughput screening in PDX models
This work builds on the iTHER precision medicine study at the Princess Máxima Center. In that study, the Molenaar group tested medicines on organoids – 3D mini-tumors grown from patient material.
In the new study, conducted in collaboration with the international ITCC-P4 consortium, the researchers investigated whether the entire process could be reduced to approximately 14 days. Tumor tissue is immediately broken up into single cells upon receipt, cultured for one week, and then used directly for drug screening.
Together with the Institut Curie in Paris, the Molenaar group carried out 69 high-throughput screens across nine different types of solid tumors. They used tissue from children with cancer from four centers in Europe. Drug screening was performed using the high-throughput screening facility at the Máxima.
For these tests, the scientists used PDX models (patient-derived xenografts: tumors grown in mice based on patient tissue). In this study, PDX models offered three key advantages:
Research-grade tumor tissue from children with cancer is scarce. PDX models yield far more cells, allowing researchers to perform and optimize the most appropriate analyses.
For each tissue sample from a PDX model, 134 or even 224 medicines could be tested using high-throughput screening.
Within the ITCC-P4 consortium, extensive molecular data were available for both the PDX models and the child’s original tumor.
Before this method can lead to personalized treatments for children with cancer, researchers must confirm that drug responses observed in the cultured models sufficiently match those in the child. This comparison is currently being studied in a joint project with the Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ) and the Institut Curie, as part of the EU CAN KIDS alliance.
The study was carried out by Marlinde Schoonbeek (Princess Máxima Center) and Pierre Gestraud (Institut Curie), and led by Jan Molenaar (Princess Máxima Center) and Gudrun Schleiermacher (Institut Curie).