In September 2021, Shanghai LIDE's patented MiniPDX won the 2021 IQ Association and AAALAC International Animal Research Global 3Rs Award. As one of the researchers of MiniPDX, Dr. Wenjie Wang from Shanghai LIDE medical department accepted the award on behalf of Shanghai LIDE.
"3R" is the abbreviation for Reduction, Replacement and Refinement in animal experiments. Specifically, "Reduction" means to reduce the number of animals used in the experiment as much as possible, and to improve the utilization rate of experimental animals and the accuracy of the experiment. "Refinement" means to reduce the animals' mental stress and pain. "Replacement" means no longer use living animals for experiments, but replace them with single-celled organisms, microorganisms or cells, etc. The "3R rule" has been included in the laws and amendments to protect animals in many countries, and has become a major guiding principle for animal research.
The Global 3Rs Award aims to recognize researchers and personnel who have made significant innovative contributions to the advancement of ethical science in any field of biology in academia or industry in the "3R Principles" of animal research. Three global awards including North America, Europe and Pacific Rim will be awarded in 2021. Nominations for awards must include improvements to existing research techniques or any innovative research methods, including but not limited to: improved animal models, tissue-based models (such as cell lines, tissue culture), molecular technologies (such as proteomics), analysis and calculation models, research designs or technical improvements (such as sampling techniques, improved testing methods), and translational medical applications.
MiniPDX is mainly used for rapid drug sensitivity test in tumor patients. Compared with the traditional PDX model that usually requires at least 5-6 mice for drug sensitivity test, MiniPDX technology can ensure accuracy (the consistency with PDX is as high as 92%), and each group of drug efficacy test only needs 2 mice. Therefore, the MiniPDX drug sensitivity test can directly reduce the number of mice by nearly 70%, fully satisfying the "Reduction" principle in 3R.
On the other hand, using MiniPDX technology, the tumor cells proliferated in the unique MiniPDX capsule will not cause the growth of solid tumors, so it can avoid cancer pain in mice and relieve the pain in the animal experiment process. Moreover, the administration period is greatly shortened, which not only improves the detection efficiency, but also further alleviates the pain of the mice. This meets the "Refinement" principle in 3R.
In addition, MiniPDX can also be used in other fields such as new drug research and development. Its low cost, short time-consuming, high accuracy and other characteristics make it have the potential to replace PDX to a greater extent. With the in-depth promotion and application of this technology, the contribution to the "3R principle" of animal experiments will be more prominent.
You can read the official AAALAC announcement here or learn more about our MiniPDX.