Maintaining viability and characteristics of cholangiocarcinoma tissue by vitrification-based cryopreservation

•35 intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma tissue slices have been vitrified successfully.•The viability of vitrified-rewarmed ICC tissues was up to 80% of the fresh tissues.•No significant alterations in morphology and gene expression were introduced.•Primary tumor cells could be isolated from the rewarmed tissues.•Cryopreserved ICC tissues could generate PDXs with take rate of 68.2%.

Tumor tissue has great clinical and scientific value which relies highly on the proper preservation of primary materials. Conventional tumor tissue cryopreservation using slow-freezing method has yielded limited success, leading to significant cell loss and morphological damage. Here we report a standardized vitrification-based cryopreservation method, by which we have successfully vitrified and warmed 35 intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) tissues with up to 80% viability of the fresh tumor tissues. Cryopreserved ICC tissue could generate patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) with take rates of 68.2% compared to 72.7% using fresh tumor tissues. Histological and genetic analyses showed that no significant alterations in morphology and gene expression were introduced by this cryopreservation method. Our procedure may facilitate collection, long-time storage and propagation of cholangiocarcinoma or other tumor specimens for (pre)clinical studies of novel therapies or for basic research.