Making cancer cells that thrive under laboratory conditions could herald a significant advancement in treating the disease.

US researchers said on Monday they have discovered how to keep tumor cells alive in the lab, generating buzz in the scientific community about a potential breakthrough that could transform cancer treatment. Until now, scientists have been unable to make cancer cells thrive for very long in the laboratory in a condition that resembles the way they look and act in the body. Doctors have largely relied on biopsied tissue that is frozen or set in wax to diagnose and recommend treatment.

The advance has sparked new hope that someday doctors may be able to test a host of cancer-killing drugs on a person's own tumor cells in the lab, before returning to the patient with a therapy that is likely to be a good match.