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Patient-derived tumor models: a suitable tool for preclinical studies on esophageal cancer

Cancer Gene Therapy volume 30, pages 1443–1455 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Esophageal cancer (EC) is the tenth most common cancer worldwide and has high morbidity and mortality. Its main subtypes include esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and esophageal adenocarcinoma, which are usually diagnosed during their advanced stages. The biological defects and inability of preclinical models to summarize completely the etiology of multiple factors, the complexity of the tumor microenvironment, and the genetic heterogeneity of tumors severely limit the clinical treatment of EC. Patient-derived models of EC not only retain the tissue structure, cell morphology, and differentiation characteristics of the original tumor, they also retain tumor heterogeneity. Therefore, compared with other preclinical models, they can better predict the efficacy of candidate drugs, explore novel biomarkers, combine with clinical trials, and effectively improve patient prognosis. This review discusses the methods and animals used to establish patient-derived models and genetically engineered mouse models, especially patient-derived xenograft models. It also discusses their advantages, applications, and limitations as preclinical experimental research tools to provide an important reference for the precise personalized treatment of EC and improve the prognosis of patients.

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Fig. 1: Schematic diagram of the different models for the study of esophageal cancer.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank EnPapers (www.enpapers.com/) for English language editing.

Funding

This study was supported by the General Program of Henan Natural Science Foundation (No. 232300421166), Key Scientific and Technological Projects of Henan Province (No. 212102310634) and Key Scientific and Technological Project of Xinxiang City (No. GG2021008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institutes of Health Central Plains, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453003, China

    Fan Liang, Hongwei Cheng & Junhe Zhang

  2. School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453003, China

    Hongyan Xu, Yabo Zhao & Junhe Zhang

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  1. Fan Liang
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  2. Hongyan Xu
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  3. Hongwei Cheng
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Contributions

ZJH and LF drafted the manuscript and completed the figures and tables; XHY and ZBY collected the references; CHW revised the manuscript; ZJH provided funding support. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Junhe Zhang.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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The Review Board of Xinxiang Medical University approved the study and all patients provided written informed consent prior to any study related activities.

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Liang, F., Xu, H., Cheng, H. et al. Patient-derived tumor models: a suitable tool for preclinical studies on esophageal cancer. Cancer Gene Ther 30, 1443–1455 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41417-023-00652-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41417-023-00652-9

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