NCI Patient-Derived Models Repository (PDMR)

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has established a Patient-Derived Models Repository (PDMR) developed from human tumor tissues and blood. The models are made available upon request to serve as a resource for public-private partnerships and for academic cancer drug discovery efforts. 

These established, quality-controlled PDMs are clinically-annotated with molecular information available in an easily accessible database. The models types include:

• Patient-derived xenografts (PDXs)
• Patient-derived in vitro tumor cell cultures (PDCs)
• Patient-derived organoids (PDOrg)
• Cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs)

This effort began in April 2012 when the NCI hosted a Target Validation Meeting with participants from academia and pharma. They discussed the current state of preclinical models in cancer research. Subsequent discussions identified the following needs:

• Improved reproducibility and transparency of preclinical data to determine if the use of animal models for guiding preclinical development of anti-cancer agents  
• Clarification of the role of PDXs in target identification and qualification
• Development of models to enable the comparative assessment of molecular predictors of drug efficacy: PDXs, genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs), conventional xenografts, conditionally-reprogrammed lines, organoids, etc.
• Establishment of predictive genomic signatures and/or proof of mechanism pharmacodynamics