HISTOLOGY AND HISTOPATHOLOGY

Cellular and Molecular Biology

 

Review

New models towards assessing anti-cancer therapeutics

Isabel Romero-Camarero1, Marcos Barajas-Diego1, Andrés Castellanos-Martín2, Ángel García-Martín3, Gonzalo Varela4, Mar Abad5, María Dolores Ludeña5, Jesús Pérez-Losada2 and Isidro Sánchez-García1

1Experimental Therapeutics and Translational Oncology Program, Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular del Cáncer, CSIC/ University of Salamanca, Salamanca, 2Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular del Cáncer, CSIC/University of Salamanca, Salamanca, 3Fundación Inbiomed, San Sebastián, 4Department of Thoracic Surgery, Hospital Universitario, Salamanca and 5Pathology Department, Hospital Universitario, Salamanca, Spain.

Offprint requests to: Isidro Sánchez-García, Experimental Therapeutics and Translational Oncology Program, Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular del Cáncer, CSIC/University of Salamanca, Spain. e-mail: isg@usal.es or Jesús Pérez-Losada, Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular del Cáncer, CSIC/University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain. e-mail: jperezlosada@usal.es


Summary. Cancer is the subject of intense research around the world, but many questions about how the disease works remain unanswered. How exactly does cancer start and how do tumours grow? In fact, at present there are ten times more anticancer drugs being tested in clinical trials than there were 15 years ago. However, many of the new anticancer agents are predicted to show clinical benefit in only small subpopulations of patients. The cancer stem cell model could explain not only how some cancers work but also why patients suffer relapses, providing a good opportunity to gain insight into the reasons why agents work or, more commonly, don’t work, before going into a clinical trial
. Histol Histopathol 27, 157-170 (2012)

Key words: Cancer treatments, Targeted therapy, Cancer stem cells, Mouse models, Pharmacogenomics, Molecular image

DOI: 10.14670/HH-27.157