termsTerm

Model organism

aka model organisms, mouse model, mouse models, mice, in mice, murine, animal model, xenograft, xenografts, patient-derived xenograft, patient-derived xenografts, PDX, genetically engineered mouse, GEMM, GEMMs, humanised mice, humanized mice, zebrafish, fruit fly, Drosophila, yeast, C. elegans

A species studied in the lab to understand biology that is shared with humans: mice above all, plus zebrafish, flies, worms and yeast. Mice carrying human tumours are the standard test bed for cancer drugs, and a notoriously imperfect one.

Cancer research uses several kinds of mouse: immunodeficient mice implanted with human cell lines or patient tumour fragments (xenografts and PDX), which test drugs against human cancer cells but have no functioning immune system; genetically engineered mice that develop cancer from defined mutations in the right tissue, which model the disease's origins and have an intact immune system; and humanised mice given a human immune system to test immunotherapies. Basic discoveries about the cell cycle, DNA repair, and cell death came from yeast, worms and flies. Mice differ from humans in size, metabolism, lifespan and immunity, and a drug that cures mouse tumours has, on its own, a poor record of predicting benefit in patients.

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Term
Clinical trial
Shares In vitro and in vivo, Preclinical.
Technology
Functional (ex vivo) drug testing
Shares Cell line, In vitro and in vivo, Organoid.
Technology
Patient-derived organoids
Shares Cell line, In vitro and in vivo, Organoid, Preclinical.

technologies

Patient-derived xenografts

terms

Cell line In vitro and in vivo Organoid Preclinical