Patient-derived tumor xenografts in the research of cancer therapy resistance

Cancer is one of the most common causes of death, responsible for approximately ten million fatalities each year. The majority of deaths are attributable to the development of therapy resistance, followed by progression and metastasis. Although significant advances have been made in the development of effective, precise, and targeted therapies over the past fifty years, the phenotypic diversity and adaptive survival mechanisms of cancer cells continue to limit the long-term effectiveness of these treatments. Although simple and easily reproducible models used for drug testing – such as tumor cell lines – remain widely used, their poor translational relevance calls for the development of new models. In vitro 3D and co-culture systems, as well as genetically modified mouse models of carcinogenesis, are now widely used in cancer research. In the meantime, patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models have become of the most important model types: they have rapidly spread in both drug development and therapeutic response research.

PDX models contribute to the identification of new therapeutic combinations and targets, and can be used in clinical decision-making by enabling the pre-testing of drug effects and the selection of personalized, effective therapies.