Scientists working through the NIH-funded Human Cancer Models Initiative have built a large shared library for studying cancer. It contains 665 laboratory models representing 25 types of cancer, created from samples donated by 2,780 people.
The collection includes common and rare cancers, along with detailed genetic and clinical information for many of the models. Researchers can access the models through the American Type Culture Collection and search them by cancer type and other features.
The models are useful because they continue to resemble the tumors they came from. In a comparison of 421 original tumors and their laboratory models, the researchers found very close matches in genetic changes, epigenetic features, and RNA activity.
That gives scientists a more realistic way to study how tumors change, why some treatments stop working, and which weaknesses might be useful in future therapies. It is a research tool, not a treatment by itself, but it may help make the next questions easier to answer.
