A Preclinical Model for ER-Positive Breast Cancer Points to the Epithelial Microenvironment as Determinant of Luminal Phenotype and Hormone Response [BT20 & HCC1806]

A high percentage of potential oncology drugs fail in clinical trials, partly because preclinical models used to test them are inadequate. Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death among women worldwide but we lack appropriate in vivo models for the ER+ subtypes, which represent more than 75% of all cases. We address these issues by xenografting tumor cells to their site of origin, the milk ducts. All ER+ cell lines and patient-derived xenografts grow mimicking their clinical counterparts. Disease progresses with invasion and metastasis, which become amenable to study. The action of hormones, important in breast carcinogenesis, can now be studied in a relevant context. Importantly, these open opportunities for development and evaluation of therapies.

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Sflomos G, Dormoy V, Metsalu T, Jeitziner R, Battista L, Scabia V, Raffoul W, Delaloye JF, Treboux A, Fiche M, Vilo J, Ayyanan A, Brisken C