Advances in colon cancer research: in vitro and animal models.

Modelling human colon cancer has long been the ambition of researchers and oncologists with the aim to better replicate disease progression and treatment response. Advances in our understanding of genetics, stem cell biology, tumour microenvironment and immunology have prepared the groundwork for recent major advances. In the last two years the field has seen the progression of: using patient derived organoids (alone and in co-culture) as predictors of treatment response; molecular stratification of tumours that predict outcome and treatment response; mouse models of metastatic disease; and transplant models that can be used to de-risk clinical trials. We will discuss these advances in this review.