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. 2022 Apr;6(1):269-291.
doi: 10.1146/annurev-cancerbio-070620-105523. Epub 2022 Jan 18.

Novel Mouse Models for Cancer Immunology

Kelli A Connolly  1 , Brittany Fitzgerald  1 , Martina Damo  1 , Nikhil S Joshi  1
Affiliations

Novel Mouse Models for Cancer Immunology

Kelli A Connolly et al. Annu Rev Cancer Biol. 2022 Apr.

Abstract

Mouse models for the study of cancer immunology provide excellent systems in which to test biological mechanisms of the immune response against cancer. Historically, these models have been designed to have different strengths based on the current major research questions at the time. As such, many mouse models of immunology used today were not originally developed to study questions currently plaguing the relatively new field of cancer immunology, but instead have been adapted for such purposes. In this review, we discuss various mouse model of cancer immunology in a historical context as a means to provide a fuller perspective of each model's strengths. From this outlook, we discuss the current state of the art and strategies for tackling future modeling challenges.

Keywords: Cancer; Immunology; Laboratory mice; genetically engineered animal.

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Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Juxtaposed timelines of notable advances generated in syngeneic cell line transplant models of cancer (dark green), carcinogen-induced models of cancer (purple), virally-induced models of cancer (blue), GEMM of cancer (orange), and humanized PDX models of cancer (light green). These timelines are set in the context of major findings and theoretical advances in the study of cancer immunology, marked above with yellow markers. Created with BioRender.com. Abbreviations: MHC, major histocompatibility complex; CPI, checkpoint inhibitor; KO, knock-out; PAH, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; RAGKO, recombination activating gene kock-out; SCID, severe combined immunodeficiency; GEMM, genetically-engineered mouse model; SV40, simian virus 40; APC, adenomatous polyposis coli; Cre-LoxP, Cre-recombinase-LoxP; PDX, patient-derived xenografts; RAG1, recombination activating gene 1; RAG2, recombination activating gene 2
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Stages of human (top) and mouse (bottom) cancer that have been observed. On the right, techniques used to transplant tumors into mice are depicted. Mouse models of cancer best able to recapitulate various stages of disease shown below. Created with BioRender.com. Abbreviations: TIL, tumor infiltrating lymphocytes; PBMC, peripheral blood mononuclear cells; PDX, patient-derived xenografts; GEMM, genetically engineered mouse models
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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