Table 1 Simplified overview of frequently used systems of animal models in translational cancer research
Type | Comment | Main application | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cell line- based | Xenograft (CDX) | Subcutaneous or orthotopic | Also as patient-derived xenograft (PDX) | Cell biology, therapy |
Humanized preclinical models | Immunological research | |||
Syngraft (CDS) | Subcutaneous or orthotopic | Derived from spontaneously grown, toxically induced or genetically generated endogenous tumors | Cell biology, therapy | |
Complex, biologically/genetically engineered | Metabolically/toxically induced | Systemic | Mostly based on genetic alterations (targeted induction of a promotor for carcinogen), often organ-specific | Toxicology |
Mutagenesis- screen | Chemical or transposon-mutagenesis | Forward-genetic approaches | Basic cancer research (identification of gene functions) | |
Genetically Engineered Models (GEM) | Systemic | Knock-in/knock-out | Translational research (reverse-genetic approaches) | |
Organ-specific | Transgenic animals with organ-/cell type-specific promotor | |||
Conditional/inducible | Transgenic animals with localized or time-limited genetic alterations | |||
Targeted genetically modified animals by genome editing | Â | |||
Complex humanized preclinical models | ||||