Patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) are resected human tumors engrafted into mice for preclinical studies and therapeutic testing. It has been proposed that the mouse host affects tumor evolution during PDX engraftment and propagation, affecting the accuracy of PDX modeling of human cancer. Here, we exhaustively analyze copy number alterations (CNAs) in 1,451 PDX and matched patient tumor (PT) samples from 509 PDX models. CNA inferences based on DNA sequencing and microarray data displayed substantially higher resolution and dynamic range than gene expression-based inferences, and they also showed strong CNA conservation from PTs through late-passage PDXs. CNA recurrence analysis of 130 colorectal and breast PT/PDX-early/PDX-late trios confirmed high-resolution CNA retention. We observed no significant enrichment of cancer-related genes in PDX-specific CNAs across models. Moreover, CNA differences between patient and PDX tumors were comparable to variations in multiregion samples within patients. Our study demonstrates the lack of systematic copy number evolution driven by the PDX mouse host.

Innovative financing mechanisms are needed to facilitate sustainable development. In the past few years, socially responsible investments have emerged as a successful type of financing scheme but many eco‐oriented start‐up companies remain under‐funded. Apparently, environmental innovations have only recently caught the attention of an important financial sector: venture capital (VC). The article describes the emerging phenomenon of environment‐related VC (or green VC) and provides an overview of the current market for this type of investment. The paper delves into this industry, revealing its characteristics, processes and mechanisms. The study also uncovers the main problems faced by eco‐entrepreneurs as well as venture capitalists interested in this type of venture. Finally, it analyses the drivers for green VC and attempts to identify the sources of innovation and the uniqueness of these emerging financial products. Based on the analysis, the paper also derives a definition of green VC. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

receive a portion of royalties if University of Utah licenses certain PDX models to for-profit entities. M.T.L is a founder of, and equity stake holder in, Tvardi Therapeutics Inc., a founder of, and limited partner in, StemMed Ltd., and a Manager in StemMed Holdings LLC. He also receives a portion of royalties if Baylor College of Medicine licenses certain PDX models to for-profit entities. Research.

Development of candidate cancer treatments is a resource-intensive process, with the research community continuing to investigate options beyond static genomic characterization. Toward this goal, we have established the genomic landscapes of 536 patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models across 25 cancer types, together with mutation, copy number, fusion, transcriptomic profiles, and NCI-MATCH arms. Compared with human tumors, PDXs typically have higher purity and fit to investigate dynamic driver events and molecular properties via multiple time points from same case PDXs. Here, we report on dynamic genomic landscapes and pharmacogenomic associations, including associations between activating oncogenic events and drugs, correlations between whole-genome duplications and subclone events, and the potential PDX models for NCI-MATCH trials. Lastly, we provide a web portal having comprehensive pan-cancer PDX genomic profiles and source code to facilitate identification of more druggable events and further insights into PDXs’ recapitulation of human tumors.

41 a PDXNET consortium 42 b EurOPDX consortium 43 # These authors contributed equally to this work.44 § These authors jointly supervised this work. ABSTRACT 107Patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) are resected human tumors engrafted into mice for preclinical 108 studies and therapeutic testing. It has been proposed that the mouse host affects tumor evolution 109 during PDX engraftment and propagation, impacting the accuracy of PDX modeling of human 110 cancer. Here we exhaustively analyze copy number alterations (CNAs) in 1451 PDX and matched 111 patient tumor (PT) samples from 509 PDX models. CNA inferences based on DNA sequencing 112 and microarray data displayed substantially higher resolution and dynamic range than gene 113 expression-based inferences, and they also showed strong CNA conservation from PTs through 114 late-passage PDXs. CNA recurrence analysis of 130 colorectal and breast PT/PDX-early/PDX-115 late trios confirmed high-resolution CNA retention. We observed no significant enrichment of 116 cancer-related genes in PDX-specific CNAs across models. Moreover, CNA differences between 117 patient and PDX tumors were comparable to variations in multi-region samples within patients. 118Our study demonstrates the lack of systematic copy number evolution driven by the PDX mouse 119 host. 121 MAIN 122A variety of models of human cancer have been used to study basic biological processes and 123 predict responses to treatment. For example, mouse models with genetically engineered 124 mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes have clarified the genetic and molecular 125 basis of tumor initiation and progression 1,2 , though responses sometimes differ between human 126 and mouse 3 . Cell lines have also been widely used to study cancer cells, but they lack the 127 heterogeneity and microenvironment of in vivo tumors and have shown limitations for predicting 128 clinical response 4 . Human tumors engrafted into transplant-compliant recipient mice (patient-129 derived xenografts, PDX) have advantages over prior systems for preclinical drug efficacy studies 130 because they allow researchers to directly study human cells and tissues in vivo 5-8 . Comparisons131 of genome characteristics and histopathology of primary tumors and xenografts of human breast 132 cancer 9-13 , ovarian cancer 14 , colorectal cancer 15 and lung cancer 16-18 , have demonstrated that the 133 biological properties of patient-derived tumors are largely preserved in xenografts. A growing body 134 of literature supports their use in cancer drug discovery and development 19-21 . 135A caveat to PDX models is that intratumoral evolution can occur during engraftment and 136 passaging 11,22-25 . Such evolution could potentially modify treatment response of PDXs with 137 respect to the patient tumors 23,26,27 , particularly if the evolution were to systematically alter cancer-138 related genes. This issue is related to multi-region comparisons of patient tumors 28-31 , for which 139 local mutational and immune infiltration variations have sugg...