Systems that model cancer form the backbone of research discovery, and their accuracy and validity are a key determinant to ensure successful translation. In many tumour types, patient-derived specimens are an important model of choice for pre-clinical drug development. In this review, we consider why this has been such a challenge for prostate cancer, resulting in relatively few patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) of prostatic tumours compared to breast cancers, for example. Nevertheless, with only a few patient specimens and PDXs, we exemplify in three vignettes how important new clinical insights were obtained resulting in benefit for future men with prostate cancer.
Hormones & cancer. 2016 May 13 [Epub ahead of print]
Gail P Risbridger, Renea A Taylor
Monash Partners Comprehensive Cancer Consortium and Cancer Program, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Monash University, Wellington Road, Melbourne, VIC, 3800, Australia. ., Monash Partners Comprehensive Cancer Consortium and Cancer Program, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Department of Physiology, Monash University, Wellington Road, Melbourne, VIC, 3800, Australia.