ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the various types of mouse models of cancer— transgenic, patient-derived xenograft, and humanized models— and provides an overview of their crucial and recent contributions to medical research. It focuses humanized immune system models, which were initially designed for studying human hematopoiesis and immunity, promising translational model for the validation of personalized approaches for cancer treatment. Genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs) of cancer consist of mice harboring modifications within their genomes such as mutation and overexpression of oncogenes or inactivation of tumor suppressors drive tumorigenesis. By using tissue specific promoters, it is possible to create GEMMs that develop tumors only in the tissue of interest. GEMMs may be based on the transient activation of tissue-specific promoters during embryonic stages to induce genetic modifications in the tissue of interest. The estrogen-receptor (ER) inducible and reversible system is perhaps the quickest switchable system. It consists of a fusion of the protein of interest and the ER ligand-binding domain sequence.
