Patient-derived xenograft models of squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix

• The PDX models mirror the biology and aggressiveness of the donor patients' tumors.
• Metastasis of the PDXs is associated with the presence of intratumoral lymphatics.
• Metastasis of the PDXs is related to high expression of angiogenesis-related genes.
• Metastasis of the PDXs correlates with high expression of stem cell-related genes.

Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models of cancer are considered to reflect the biology and treatment response of human tumors to a larger extent than xenograft models initiated from established cell lines. The characterization of a panel of four novel PDX models of cervical carcinoma of the uterine cervix is described in this communication. The outcome of treatment differed substantially among the donor patients, and the PDX models were found to mirror the histology, aggressiveness, and metastatic propensity of the donor patients' tumors. Two of the models (BK-12 and LA-19) were highly metastatic, one model (ED-15) was poorly metastatic, and one model (HL-16) was non-metastatic. The primary tumors of the two highly metastatic models showed high density of intratumoral lymphatics, whereas the other two models did not develop intratumoral lymphatics. The potential of the models to metastasize to lymph nodes was associated with high expression of both angiogenesis-related genes and cancer stem cell-related genes. The models may be highly valuable for studying mechanisms linking lymph node metastasis to lymphangiogenesis, hemangiogenesis, and the presence of cancer stem cells.