Extending the Applicability of In Ovo and Ex Ovo Chicken Chorioallantoic Membrane Assays to Study Cytostatic Activity in Neuroblastoma Cells

A developmental program termed epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a critical role in promoting metastasis in epithelial-derived carcinomas. Recent studies also implicate its reverse program, mesenchymal–epithelial transition (MET), in this metastatic process. In this review, Tsai and Yang discuss the functional requirement of EMT and/or MET during the individual steps of tumor metastasis and the potential for targeting these programs when treating metastatic diseases.

Significant advances have been made in developing novel therapeutics for cancer treatment, and targeted therapies have revolutionized the treatment of some cancers. Despite the promise, only about five percent of new cancer drugs are approved, and most fail due to lack of efficacy. The indication is that current preclinical methods are limited in predicting successful outcomes. Such failure exacts enormous cost, both financial and in the quality of human life. This Primer explores the current status, promise, and challenges of preclinical evaluation in advanced mouse cancer models and briefly addresses emerging models for early-stage preclinical development.

The treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) may be changing, but the cisplatin-based doublet remains the foundation of treatment for the majority of patients with advanced NSCLC. In this respect, changes in practice to various aspects of cisplatin use, such as administration schedules and the choice of methods and frequency of monitoring for toxicities, have contributed to an incremental improvement in patient management and experience. Chemoresistance, however, limits the clinical utility of this drug in patients with advanced NSCLC. Better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of cisplatin resistance, identification of predictive markers and the development of newer, more effective and less toxic platinum agents is required. In addition to maximising potential benefits from advances in molecular biology and associated therapeutics, modification of existing cisplatin-based treatments can still lead to improvements in patient outcomes and experiences.