Revista de ciencia e ingeniería de tejidos

Will In Vitro Tests Replace Animal Models in Experimental Oncology?

Abstract

Martyna Wesserling and Tomasz Drewa

Every year many people die of cancer. Hopes give the extensive studies conduct worldwide on the new anticancer agents. New drugs are tested in both, in vitro and in vivo conditions. This model is recognized as a standard all around the world. On the other hand many organizations attempt to decrease experimental work on animal models, suggesting that in vivo tests are unethical and probably useless. We would like to show the differences between in vitro and in vivo conditions. This review is aimed to emphasize the differences related to receptors, hormones, bioavailability, enzymatic influence, vasculature, age, severity of disease and contamination of cell lines. It seems that it is not possible to abolish in vivo studies in testing any anticancer agent nowadays. The question is how extensive experiments on animal should be.