Murine models of prostate cancer

Abstract

Preclinical investigation of prostate cancer (CaP) has been greatly assisted by the availability of animal models which enable experimentation in physiologic tissue microenvironments that cannot be recapitulated by current in vitro platforms. Such modeling is necessary to study carcinogenesis steps requiring interaction between the cancer cell and microenvironment, such as local invasion, circulatory transit/dissemination, lodging and survival of tumor cells at secondary tissue sites, and tumorigenesis itself. Animal models thus provide invaluable preclinical tools for elucidating molecular mechanisms of CaP carcinogenesis and testing novel CaP therapies. This chapter reviews different approaches to murine modeling of CaP and summarizes various models with respect to their histology, androgen sensitivity, invasiveness, metastatic potential, molecular profiles and preclinical discoveries.