Facilitating tailored therapeutic strategies for glioblastoma through an orthotopic patient-derived xenograft platform

Abstract

Despite years of research into its pathobiology and continuing clinical trials for novel therapies, the prognosis for patients with glioblastoma (GBM) remains dismal. An important obstacle against treatment efficacy may be a high degree of intra- and inter-tumoral heterogeneity within GBMs, which may be caused by the presence of self-renewing GBM stem cells (GSCs). Recent advances in multi-omics technology introduce new possibilities for applying personalized strategies to GBM therapy. As drug discovery is accelerating with the transition from non-selective, cytotoxic therapy to a precision, targeted approach, the appropriate in vivo platform for GBM is critical for validating drug targets and prioritizing candidates for clinical studies, for co-development of companion diagnostics and, ultimately, for drug approval. Here we will describe GBM orthotopic patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) as more useful, clinically relevant resources for individually tailored strategies for GBM.