Mice and Rats for Cancer Research

While the use of mice has provided important insight into our understanding of normal and pathophysiological processes, the biological differences between mice and humans are limiting factors in the translation of many immunotherapies to the clinical setting. There is thus a growing need for mouse models that more faithfully recapitulate important features of human biology. Towards this goal, various methods have been developed to humanize mice, and these models are quickly becoming an essential tool for basic and applied research. Humanized immune system mice have provided critical insights into development of cancer immunotherapies due to their ability to model the interaction between the human immune system and cancer in vivo. Genetically humanized mice which express a human target protein may be useful when the mouse and human versions of a protein differ significantly. Finally, microbiome humanization is starting to illuminate questions such as why do some patients respond to immunotherapies while others do not.

There are many variations of humanized immune system mice, and the best model for a particular study must consider the immune cell(s) of interest, the tumor of interest, the likely study window needed and more. At a high level, the two most commonly used humanization methods in these models are CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) engraftment , which involves the transplantation of human hematopoietic stem cells that engraft and differentiate into various types of human immune cells, and PBMC engraftment, in which human peripheral blood mononuclear cells are injected. These methods are combined with a range of host strains, and the resulting models differ in the cell types that engraft, immune function of the engrafted human cells, as well as timelines for development and the useful study window. Thus use of the appropriate system is dependent upon the scientific question under investigation.

Taconic's Field Applications Scientists can help you determine which humanized model will best suit your research goals.