Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in young adult men, and its incidence is increasing globally, with testicular germ cell tumors (TGCT) being the most frequent subtype. These tumors show remarkable sensitivity to cisplatin, but there is a small subset of patients that develop resistance to the therapy, experiencing low quality of life and having no treatment options. Nowadays, there are a number of models that are useful for studying TGCT tumorigenesis and identifying novel targeted therapies for these patients. Thus, in this review, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the in vitro and in vivo TGCT models that are currently available, and also to summarize the main findings that have been made in the last years regarding preclinical and clinical studies of novel targeted therapies in TGCT patients.
Available preclinical models and clinical targeted approaches for the treatment of testicular cancer Testicular cancer is the most common type of cancer in young adult men. Most patients have a good prognosis due to the effectiveness of chemotherapy, which usually eliminates these cancer cells efficiently. However, there is a small percentage of patients that develop resistance to chemotherapy, and there are no effective alternative treatment options for such cases. Thus, there is a need for new therapies for those patients. In this review, the authors describe the laboratory models currently available to study this disease and how they can be used to test new drugs. Also, novel therapies that are being tested in testicular cancer patients are also discussed, to provide a comprehensive summary of both laboratory and clinical research being performed worldwide.
Therapeutic advances in medical oncology. 2026 Jul 13*** epublish ***
Nuno Tiago Tavares, Michelle Y Liu, Rui Henrique, Carmen Jerónimo, Robert S Weiss, João Lobo
Cancer Biology and Epigenetics Group, IPO Porto Research Center (CI-IPO Porto), Portuguese Oncology Institute of Porto (IPO Porto), Porto, Portugal., Department of Biomedical and Translational Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.