Open AccessGenetically engineered mouse models of prostate cancer
Author(s) -
Parisotto Maxime,
Metzger Daniel
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
molecular oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.332
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1878-0261
pISSN - 1574-7891
DOI - 10.1016/j.molonc.2013.02.005
Subject(s) - prostate cancer , genetically engineered , prostate , computational biology , mutagenesis , disease , somatic cell , cancer , biology , bioinformatics , medicine , cancer research , mutation , pathology , genetics , gene
Despite major improvement in treatment of early stage localised prostate cancer, the distinction between indolent tumors and those that will become aggressive, as well as the lack of efficient therapies of advanced prostate cancer, remain major health problems. Genetically engineered mice (GEM) have been extensively used to investigate the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying prostate tumor initiation and progression, and to evaluate new therapies. Moreover, the recent development of conditional somatic mutagenesis in the mouse prostate offers the possibility to generate new models that more faithfully reproduce the human disease, and thus should contribute to improve diagnosis and treatments. The strengths and weaknesses of various models will be discussed, as well as future opportunities.