Establishment and Thorough Characterization of Xenograft (PDX) Models Derived from Patients with Pancreatic Cancer for Molecular Analyses and Chemosensitivity Testing.

Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) tumor models are essential for identifying new biomarkers, signaling pathways and novel targets, to better define key factors of therapy response and resistance mechanisms. Therefore, this study aimed at establishing pancreas carcinoma (PC) PDX models with thorough molecular characterization, and the identification of signatures defining responsiveness toward drug treatment. In total, 45 PC-PDXs were generated from 120 patient tumor specimens and the identity of PDX and corresponding patient tumors was validated.

Somatic Epigenetic Silencing of Inactivates Necroptosis and Contributes to Chemoresistance in Malignant Mesothelioma.

Purpose: Receptor-interacting protein kinase 3 (RIPK3) phosphorylates effector molecule MLKL to trigger necroptosis. Although RIPK3 loss is seen in several human cancers, its role in malignant mesothelioma is unknown. This study aimed to determine whether RIPK3 functions as a potential tumor suppressor to limit development of malignant mesothelioma.

Cholesterol Pathway Inhibition Induces TGF-β Signaling to Promote Basal Differentiation in Pancreatic Cancer.

Oncogenic transformation alters lipid metabolism to sustain tumor growth. We define a mechanism by which cholesterol metabolism controls the development and differentiation of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Disruption of distal cholesterol biosynthesis by conditional inactivation of the rate-limiting enzyme Nsdhl or treatment with cholesterol-lowering statins switches glandular pancreatic carcinomas to a basal (mesenchymal) phenotype in mouse models driven by Kras expression and homozygous Trp53 loss.

CRISPR/Cas9 genome-wide loss-of-function screening identifies druggable cellular factors involved in sunitinib resistance in renal cell carcinoma.

Background: Multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are the standard of care for patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). However, a significant number of ccRCC patients are primarily refractory to targeted therapeutics, showing neither disease stabilisation nor clinical benefits.

Methods: We used CRISPR/Cas9-based high-throughput loss of function (LOF) screening to identify cellular factors involved in the resistance to sunitinib.