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Review
. 2020 Jan 30;21(3):905.
doi: 10.3390/ijms21030905.

Engineering Prostate Cancer from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells-New Opportunities to Develop Preclinical Tools in Prostate and Prostate Cancer Studies

Anastasia C Hepburn  1 , C H Cole Sims  1 , Adriana Buskin  1 , Rakesh Heer  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Engineering Prostate Cancer from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells-New Opportunities to Develop Preclinical Tools in Prostate and Prostate Cancer Studies

Anastasia C Hepburn et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

One of the key issues hampering the development of effective treatments for prostate cancer is the lack of suitable, tractable, and patient-specific in vitro models that accurately recapitulate this disease. In this review, we address the challenges of using primary cultures and patient-derived xenografts to study prostate cancer. We describe emerging approaches using primary prostate epithelial cells and prostate organoids and their genetic manipulation for disease modelling. Furthermore, the use of human prostate-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) is highlighted as a promising complimentary approach. Finally, we discuss the manipulation of iPSCs to generate 'avatars' for drug disease testing. Specifically, we describe how a conceptual advance through the creation of living biobanks of "genetically engineered cancers" that contain patient-specific driver mutations hold promise for personalised medicine.

Keywords: cell lines; induced pluripotent stem cells; organoids; patient-derived xenografts; preclinical model; primary culture; prostate cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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