Tumor Models in Cancer Research

Abstract

Progress in a given field is often dependent upon the development of appropriate, accurate models. In modern times, cancer research has been engaged in a focused search for such models for more than 50 years. The foremost problem in developing such models is that cancer is many, many diseases arising from nearly every tissue and metastasizing to many. A major breakthrough for model in cancer research was the development of transplantable rodent tumors. Many of the early tumor lines were carcinogen-induced, but other arose naturally in elderly animals from inbred strains of mice. These syngeneic tumors grown in the inbred host of origin allowed reproducible tumor growth and reproducible response to anticancer agents to be achieved. These tumor lines also frequently allowed the analysis of tumor metasta- sis