Establishment of Patient-Derived Xenograft (PDX) Models of Human Breast Cancer.

Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models of human breast cancer are proving useful for preclinical evaluation of experimental therapeutics. However, until recently, generation of PDX models reflecting the full spectrum of human breast cancers has been an elusive goal. We recently developed a method for establishing serially transplantable, phenotypically stable, human breast cancer xenograft models in immunocompromised mice with comparatively high efficiency (overall ∼25%). These xenografts represent the major clinically defined subtypes of breast cancer [e.g. estrogen receptor positive (ER+), HER2 positive (HER2+), and "triple negative" (TN) breast cancers]. This method, and methods being developed in other laboratories, may soon allow for conducting "animal clinical trials" once sufficient numbers of clinically relevant models are generated. Curr. Protoc. Mouse Biol. 3:21-29 © 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.