Short term culture of breast cancer tissues to study the activity of the anticancer drug taxol in an intact tumor environment.

Background: Sensitivity of breast tumors to anticancer drugs depends upon dynamic interactions between epithelial tumor cells and their microenvironment including stromal cells and extracellular matrix. To study drug-sensitivity within different compartments of an individual tumor ex vivo, culture models directly established from fresh tumor tissues are absolutely essential.

Methods: We prepared 0.