Abstract
In the era of precision medicine, cancer researchers and oncologists are eagerly searching for more realistic, cost effective, and timely tumor models to aid drug development and precision oncology. Tumor models that can faithfully recapitulate the histological and molecular characteristics of various human tumors will be extremely valuable in increasing the successful rate of oncology drug development and discovering the most efficacious treatment regimen for cancer patients. Two‐dimensional (2D) cultured cancer cell lines, genetically engineered mouse tumor (GEMT) models, and patient‐derived tumor xenograft (PDTX) models have been widely used to investigate the biology of various types of cancers and test the efficacy of oncology drug candidates. However, due to either the failure to faithfully recapitulate the complexity of patient tumors in the case of 2D cultured cancer cells, or high cost and untimely for drug screening and testing in the case of GEMT and PDTX, new tumor models are urgently needed. The recently developed patient‐derived tumor organoids (PDTO) offer great potentials in uncovering novel biology of cancer development, accelerating the discovery of oncology drugs, and individualizing the treatment of cancers. In this review, we will summarize the recent progress in utilizing PDTO for oncology drug discovery. In addition, we will discuss the potentials and limitations of the current PDTO tumor models.
Highlights
In the era of precision medicine, cancer researchers and oncologists are eagerly searching for more realistic, cost effective, and timely tumor models to aid drug de‐ velopment and precision oncology
Ever since the establishment of the HeLa cell line, which was derived from an African‐American woman with cervical adenocarcinoma and cultured in the 1950s,1 2D cultured cancer cell lines have been instrumental in basic cancer research as well as the development of oncology drugs
The results showed that all grade 1 endometrioid car‐ cinomas expressed estrogen receptors (ER) and progesterone re‐ ceptors (PR), and that this pattern was maintained in the organoid cultures
Summary
Ever since the establishment of the HeLa cell line, which was derived from an African‐American woman with cervical adenocarcinoma and cultured in the 1950s,1 2D cultured cancer cell lines have been instrumental in basic cancer research as well as the development of oncology drugs. The in vitro cultured 2D cancer cell lines are the least faithful tumor model to be able to recapitulate patient tumors. Patient‐derived tumor xenografts (PDTX) can be generated by im‐ planting surgically removed tumors from patients directly into im‐ munodeficient mice In this model, tumors can be either implanted orthotopically, that is, in the anatomic location of the parental tumor, or heterotopically, that is, in a location unrelated to that of the pa‐ rental tumor.[8]. Tumors can be either implanted orthotopically, that is, in the anatomic location of the parental tumor, or heterotopically, that is, in a location unrelated to that of the pa‐ rental tumor.[8] This method has certain advantages over the afore‐ mentioned cancer cell lines and GEMT. Despite the advances that have been made using in vitro cultured cancer cell lines, GEMT, and PDTX, the need remains for more ac‐ curate, timely, and less resource‐intensive cancer models.
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