Scientists engaged in
prostate cancer research have been conducting experiments using two-dimensional cultures of
prostate cancer cell lines for decades. However, these experiments fail to reproduce and reflect the
clinical course of individual patients with
prostate cancer, or the molecular and genetic characteristics of
prostate cancer, the basic requirement for most of the preclinical studies on
prostate cancer. The use of human
prostate cancer tissues in experiments has enabled the collection and verification of clinically relevant data, including chemical reactions, changes in
proteins, and specific gene expression. Tissue recombination models have been employed for studying prostate development, the initiation and progression of
prostate cancer, and the tumor microenvironment. Notably, the epithelial-stromal interaction, which might play a critical role in
prostate cancer pathogenesis, can be reproduced in this model. Patient-derived xenograft models have been developed as powerful avatars comprising patient-derived
prostate cancer tissues implanted in immunocompromised mice and could serve as a
precision medicine approach for each
prostate cancer patient. Spheroid and organoid assays, representative of modern three-dimensional cultures, can replicate the conditions in human prostate
tumors and the prostate organ itself as a miniature model. Although an intact immune system against the
tumor is missing from the models aimed at investigating immuno-oncological
reagents in various
malignancies, all these experimental models can help researchers in developing new drugs and selecting appropriate treatment strategies for
prostate cancer patients.