The Mouse In Cancer Research  Past, Present, Future

K.      Hunter; D.      Cozma

Abstract

The mouse has long been an important component of cancer research. From the realization by Little and Bagg early days of the past century demonstrating a heritable component of sponanteous cancer to the oncogenic manipulations of the germline today, the mouse has been and will continue to be the major mammalian in vivo system to study neoplasic transformation and progression. Use of the mouse has pervaded almost every aspect of cancer research, including discovery of oncogenes, analysis of tumor suppressors, development of novel therapeutic strategies, and exploring the mutagenic effects of chemicals and ionizing radiation, to name a few. The development over the last twenty years of transgenic, homologous recombination and conditional-transgenic or knockout technologies has enormously expanded the breadth and scope of the mouse in cancer research and has contributed significantly to our understanding of the events that lead up to and accompany neoplastic transformation. Although there are significant limitations of modeling human cancers in the mouse, these proven technologies as well as technologies currently under development, will continue to provide experimentally tractable systems in which to explore the genetic and molecular events of cancer initiation and progression. As a result, the mouse as a model for human neoplastic disease will continue to have a significant place in the experimental toolbox of cancer researchers for many years to come.

Keywords: Neoplastic transformation, cancer research, tumor suppressor, oncogenes, conditional transgenic, testicular tumors, pharmacokinetics, virally induced, xenograft system, chemical carcinogenesis, transgenics