ML- Evaluating cancer models

• What are the requirements of a suitable cancer model?

  There are 5 main requirements:

  • Relevance to human biology
  • Predictive accuracy
  • Scalability
  • Reproducibility
  • Representation of heterogenous population
• Describe the pros and cons of using cancer cell lines

  Pros:

  • Continuous and unlimited supply of cells
  • Consistent genetic and phenotype characteristics
  • Easily modified and useful for studying molecular interactions
  • Can maintain cell line under controlled conditions

  Cons

  • Risk of genetic drift and mutation; HeLa cells
  • Grown in an artificial environment, so do not represent the heterogenous population
• Describe the pros and cons of organoids in studying cancer

  Pros

  • Continuous and unlimited supply of cells
  • Easily modified
  • Maintained in controlled conditions
  • Heterogenous

  Cons

  • Risk of genetic drift and mutation
  • Artificial environment
  • Less reproducible than using cell lines- due to the range of sizes of organoids
  • Harder to study mechanisms
• Describe the pros and cons of using xenograft to study cancer 


  Pros

  • Closer to in vivo tumour biology than cell lines and organoids
  • Study most tumour host interactions- better drug discovery
  • Can study metastasis

  Cons

  • Limited generalisability to humans
  • Limited reproducibility between animal models
  • Expensive
  • Uses homogenous cell lines
• Describe the pros and cons of tumour-induced mouse models for studying cancer

  Pros

  • Close to in vivo tumour biology
  • Study host-tumour interactions
  • Controlled by changes to genetic background
  • Ability to study tumour formation and metastasis

  Cons

  • Not scalable
  • Takes months
  • Limited reproducibility between different animal models
  • Differences in TME (tumour micro environment)
• Describe the pros and cons of zebra fish models in studying cancer

  Pros

  • Rapid development
  • Transparent embryos for visualising tumour growth
  • Inexpensive
  • Conservation of gene function across species

  Cons

  • Differences in TME
  • Limited reproducibility between different animal models
  • Limited understanding of fish tumours and immune system
  • Fewer drug discoveries in this model
• Describe the pros and cons of patient-derived xenograft in studying cancer

  Pros

  • Closest representation of human tumour
  • Ability to test multiple drugs and treatments
  • Drug response is the most predictive

  Cons

  • No host immune system
  • Differences in TME
  • High cost and technical expertise required
  • Limited mechanistic insight
• Describe the pros and cons of Omics-based models in studying cancer

  Pros

  • Ability to study complex biological systems
  • Increased data accuracy
  • Ease of data generation

  Cons

  • Limited functional analysis
  • Basically no mechanistic insight
  • Limited understanding of the casual relationship between changes in molecules and biological processes