**3. Prostate Cancer Research Models**

As discussed above, we have made appreciable progress in our understanding of PCa pathobiology over the past several years. These insights resulted from the efforts at multiple levels: (i) recording of clinicopathological data and histopathological examination of tumor sections at the microscopic levels, (ii) molecular profiling of clinical specimens to identify molecular aberrations associated with defined histopathological characteristics, and (iii) conducting laboratory assays to define the functional significance of identified molecular aberrations. The development of PCa research models by scientists played a significant role in these laboratory and preclinical efforts. Prostate cell lines (cancer and non-cancer) established from patients have been instrumental as research models to gain functional and mechanistic insight. A comprehensive list of cell lines used in PCa research is given in Table 1. Moreover, quite a few mouse models have also been developed that not only provide direct evidence for the oncogenic function of a gene or gene-set but also serve as models for furthering basic and translational cancer research. Recently, 3-D in vitro cultures and patient-derived tumor xenografts (PDXs) have been developed as well, which are mostly used for translational research. Below we describe some of these models and discuss their characteristics and potential significance.


**Table 1.** Prostate cancer cell line models and their characteristics.


**Table 1.** *Cont*.

(\* = Discontinued).

#### *3.1. Cell Line Models*

#### 3.1.1. Non-Cancerous Prostate Epithelial Cell Lines
